Without Jeb
by shiipitlikeFedEx
Summary: All Maximum Ride fans know that in the beginning Jeb had gotten the flock out of the School. What would have happened to the flock if Jeb hadn't rescued them? After they rescue themselves where do they go? Rated T for language.
1. Prolouge

I'm Max. Maximum Ride, if you want to go into detail. I'm not you're… normal type of person. I'm 2% bird, and while that may not seem like a lot, it's enough for me to have wings. That's right, 13 foot wide wings, that I can actually use to fly.

You might be wondering how this happened to me and the others. That's right, there are others like me, my flock. There's Angel, the youngest. She's 7 years old, and she's the most… special of us all. She can read minds.. There's her brother, the Gasman (I think the name gives you a warning; never stand upwind), who's 9. Angel and the Gasman were given to the School together, and while we're all like family, the Gasman and Angel are actually related. Then there's Nudge, 11 years old. Iggy, who's 15 and is now blind from one of the experiments that the School did on him. Then there's Fang, also 15, and me, 15.

So, how this happened. Our parents either gave us to the School, the School took us by force, or we were made in test tubes. Fang, Iggy and I grew up here, the others were brought in later. The School is a horrible science lab/prison, full of the most horrible, sick scientist you could imagine. We're experiments that they made. We live in dog cages and are like lab rats. So before you go and complain about how your school lunch cafeteria has horrible food, be thankful you're not with us.

We had a plan a year ago. We were going to escape, because there was one white coat that had a heart here, and he was going to help us. His name was Jeb. The night of the escape, the Erasers found out and killed him in front of us. Erasers are half human, half wolf experiments like us. So here we stay, locked up in this horrible place, worrying that when one of us gets taken for testing that we might not see them again.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't owe the characters of the Maximum Ride series. (Is that how you do a disclaimer? Never done one before)

A/N- Hello all the lovely people reading this! I'm Maya, I'm 13 years old, and I love to read and write. I don't usually post it online though, this is my first fan fiction. So I'm sorry if this comes to fast, but I don't wanna bore you with like a few normal days of the School and then the exciting one, I'd rather just go straight into the exciting part.

Also, I've decided I'll post every Friday, because I'm not sure how many people are reading this. Sorry if it's really crappy.

Max's POV

I was the first to wake. The Erasers came and almost toppled my cage over and I have a nasty cut on my cheek. I was about to say something, but the whitecoats came in and opened my cage and strapped me to a rolling chair. I struggled, but knew it was no use. "Where to now? Too weak to hold me off if I'm not strapped down?" I taunted, and they ignored me.

I continued to taunt them as I was rolled down the hallway, trying not to look at the other experiments they had.

When we reached the room, they quickly injected me with something, and I dozed off.

When I awoke, I was in a room with nothing in it, and there was a window where the whitecoats watched me. I was thinking of breaking the windows down, but the ground started to electrocute me.

I brought out my wings and flew up, and the walls started closing in on me, so there was barely space for my wings. I touched the wall, and it also electrocuted me. "You could at least tell me what you're testing here!" I yelled, and there was a booming answer.

"We're testing your ability to fly, how long you can stay up without food or sleep. Every time you touch the walls, something different will happen. If you don't cooperate, we'll get one of the other winged specimen to do it."

So here I am, flying. I hate doing what they want, but I wasn't going to let myself get electrocuted. Plus if I don't do it now, they will make me do it again, or they will get my flock to do it, and I wouldn't let my flock have this.

I've been up here for hours, I think 9, and in starting to drop. I need food, water. I can't go on much longer. I flapped my wings, but I was going down. I barley brushed the floor when I felt it. This time, there were darts on the flood, and they shot up at me. I cried out as they hit me, and jumped off the floor, flying again while pulling out darts. But pretty soon I was going down again, this time, it was razor sharp glass, me bleeding now more than I was before.

I tried to stay up as long as I could, I really did, I lasted for an hour, before I fell again, this time back to the electric shock.

I rose up again, every time I flapped my wings I cried out, because they were also bleeding. I tried to stay up as long as I could, not only because if I didn't I would meet some other torture, but because if I didn't meet their expectations they would call in some other member of my flock. Half an hour later, I'm on the floor again, landing in knives. I managed to stay up for a few more minutes, but fell again, screaming cause of the electrocution, but no getting up again. Once the whitecoats realized I couldn't do it anymore, they took me out of the room.

"We're now going to test how much damage you can take before you knock out." Said a male whitecoat, and carried me into a different room. He dropped me on the floor, and five Erasers came in, grinning. I feebly tried to stand, but one of the Erasers came and kicked my legs, making me fall.

"Not so tough anymore, are we Maximum?" He taunted, but I didn't do anything, couldn't do anything. I lay on the floor, waiting for sleep. The Erasers laughed at my weakness, and easily broke my arm. I whimpered, but was too tired to scream. They then took turns punching me, as if I were they're personal punching bag. One would hold me up and they all punched me. They punched my face and my noise cracked as blood ran out from it. Sadly, I was still awake, so the Erasers could have their fun. They then threw me on the ground and started kicking me. After about an hour of that, they decided to try something new.

"Let's see how well the birdie lasts with broken wings." One said excitedly, and I tried to pull my wings to my back, but the Erasers grabbed them and broke them, and I knew that was it for me. I slowly feel unconscious as they started kicking my now broken wings.

As soon as I fell asleep of course they wouldn't let me enjoy it, because the whitecoats came in and injected me with something to wake me up. Now it was time for me to go back to my cage, and they wanted me awake. One of the Erasers picked me up and carried me back to my dog cage, my broken wings dangling. When we reached the hallway with my cage and the flocks cages, my flock members seemed happy to see me.

"Max!" Nudge shouted. She was too far to see how bad my bruises were, but Fang had a perfect view of my bleeding, dangling wings.

"What did you do to her?" He growled, rushing to the edge of his cage.

"We just had a little fun with her. Sure, she'll be bruised, her arm and wings might be a bit broken for a while, but hey, it was great fun! I mean, she was having so much fun she became unconscious, but we woke her up, and she practically fell into my arms because she was so overjoyed!" The Eraser said, enjoying taunting Fang. He then opened my cage door and threw me in, my landing on my broken wings. I whimpered, too tired to yell as tears came to my eyes. I hate crying, hate seeming weak, but that's all I can do now.

Fang threw himself at his cage door, trying to get to the Eraser. "Damn you!" He screamed. He hit the cage again, and it surprisingly flipped over and opened. Fang seemed surprised too, but then smirked. One Eraser, it was one, and Fang could take him. Then he could get us out of our cages and we could escape! Fang seemed to know what I was thinking, because he crouched down, letting his wings put. Just when he was about to charge, the Eraser grabbed me out of my cage and pulled out a knife, holding it to my neck.

"One more step, bird boy, and she gets it." I was shaking my head, trying to tell him it wasn't worth it.

"No. Escape, go!" I whispered, but he shook his head.

"Not without you," he said. "What do you want me to do?"

A/N- Ohh, cliff hanger… you have to understand, I don't want people being all "but she should be dead the knives should've killed her" the stuff was supposed to hurt her, but it wouldn't kill her because they needed her for experiments.

The more comments, the faster I write! I actually have the next scene planned out, if I get 2 comments I will post it early, if I get three I'll change it to Fangs POV. I cut this scene in half because it seemed to long, so the next half is already ready. (Unless I get three comments. Then I gotta re-write it.) Although don't get mad at me because I'm not entirely sure how to check my comments… - your writer, Maya


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- All characters go to James Patterson, I don't own them.**

**A/N- Guys I'm literally so happy now in the first 24 hours I posted the last chapter I got 4 reviews, so decided to post it early AND in Fangs POV. And I'll try and post on Friday but I'm kinda busy now I'm back in school and there's swim every day and homework and I have to practice my clarinet more often because I made it into All West, which is a really big band and it's really important to me, but I promise I'm not quitting on you.**

Fangs POV

I knew Max wanted me to leave her and go, it's what I would have wanted for her. But I wasn't going to leave her behind. The flock stays together. I turned to the stupid Eraser. "What do you want me to do? Get back into my cage?" I say, backing up.

He chuckles, as if I couldn't suggest anything stupider. "Get back into the cage? Without me having any fun? No, I'm sure you'll be more fun to play with than her. I mean, once we started out she was already tired from flying 12 hours straight, she could barely stand. No, how about we have some fun with you instead?"

I was perfectly ready to take his offer, he could kill Max if I don't, and he knows it. _'Fang! The Eraser is thinking that if you ask what happens if you don't do what he says, he'll cut Max's broken arm with the knife. So I was thinking, once the knife is away from her neck, you can jump him!'_

I flinched, but then acted as if I were taking a step forward, like the over cocky bird kid he thinks I am. I didn't like the idea of him cutting Max's arm, but it would get us our freedom, and none of us would have to face the stuff this hellhole gave us.

"And if I don't agree to those terms?" I asked, trying to sound not frightened for Max's safety.  
"I suppose this could happen." He said, already assuming he had won. He could torture Max all night if this didn't work, he had the time and he knew it would hurt us all. He grabbed Max's broken arm and she whimpered again, then cried out as he brought the knife across her skin. I moved forward some, but the Eraser didn't notice, to bust hurting Max.  
As soon as the knife was off her skin, I rammed the Eraser, and he dropped Max and the knife. I punched the Eraser, but he was ready and grabbed my hand, flipping me over his head. He then ran for the knife, me getting up, and I saw Max painfully sticking out her foot, tripping the Eraser.

"I guess you should have broken my leg instead, huh?" she asked, and I smiled, glad to see she was back to normal. I jumped over the fallen Eraser and grabbed the knife.

"Believe me, I plan to, as soon as I'm done dealing with him." He said, getting up, and after that I punched him in the gut, not wanting him to have such an easy death for what he did to Max. _'Fang, you have to kill him now, if you don't he'll scream and scientists will come in and we'll never escape!'_

So I stabbed him and pulled out the knife. He fell to the ground, the life leaving his eyes. But I couldn't think about that, I ran to Iggy's cage. As I was picking the lock he asked, "What happened?"

"Long story short, Max's wings are broken, I got out of my cage and murdered an Eraser, and you need to help me unlock the others cages." I said, finally getting the lock to open. "Go."

Once I unlocked Nudge's cage, I told her to help Iggy and ran to Max.

"I think it's time for a prison break." I said, and she smiled a bittersweet smile as the others ran over.

"Maybe I'll see you again one day." She said, and I realized she thought we were leaving her.

"We're not leaving you!" Gazzy said, his voice full of fear as if the very thought was his worst nightmare.

"You can't take me; I can't even stand up! I can't stand in your way, you're so close to freedom!" she thinks she's going to hold us back. I would have said the same thing to her if we were in each other's positions, and I knew she would argue back, and that's what I'm going to do.

"You're coming." Iggy said firmly, and we all nodded.

"I can barely stand!"

"I'll carry you." I said, carefully picking her up. "And you can't protest, if you're too weak to walk, do you really think you're going to win this argument? We're not leaving you, you're coming whether you want to or not."

"Fine." Max said. I pulled out my black wings, and spread them out. So did the others.

"Wait!" Iggy cried. I looked at him questionably. "Check his pockets, he might have cash. We're gonna need it."

Angel was already over there, checking his pockets. Her eyes widened. "1000 dollars? And a credit card!"

"Okay, now we gotta go before someone wonders why it's taking the Eraser too long." I said, and we all flew up, Gazzy next to Iggy, making sure he doesn't fly the wrong way. I mean, don't get me wrong, Iggy's got some advanced senses, but I don't think it's gonna work out very well in a place we've never been. I handed Max to Iggy for a second, then flew through the window, making the glass shatter. We all flew out, and I took Max from him.

None of us really knew where we were going, but I knew we would keep going until we were really far and couldn't fly anymore. Then we would probably find a cave and figure out where to go next. We've thought about this moment so much, it's hard to believe it's real.

Max started squirming in my arms and I saw what she was doing. She was holding her broken arm with her working one so that when her super-fast healing starts her arm heals right.

I decided to break the silence. "What did they do to you?" I asked, and she shuddered.

"They... They tested my flying skills. They wanted to see how long I could stay up without eating or sleeping, and if I touched the ground, something bad would happen. I lasted about 9 hours before I fell to the ground the first time, and darts shot up at me, so I flew back up. I fell again, the second one on shattered glass, making my wings bleed. Then it was knives, and then it was electrocution, but I couldn't get back up after that." Oh god. I swear I'm going to murder all those-

"Why didn't you stay down the first time?" Gazzy asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"They knew I would try that, so before I started they said if I didn't cooperate they'd get one of you to do it instead."

"No. Next time, if you can't handle it, I'll volunteer for you." I said, and she shuddered at my words. Next time. There is never going to be a next time. They are never going to lay a hand on her or any of my flock again.

"I couldn't let you do that. And after that, they gave me to the Erasers and said that they could do what they wanted to me until I fell unconscious." Max said, and started crying. "The Erasers... They broke my arm, then held me up by my hair and used me as their personal punching bag and broke my noise, then threw me on the ground and started kicking me, and then they grabbed my wings and snapped them, then started kicking my snapped wings, and finally, finally I feel unconscious, but it was only for minutes because they woke me up before the Eraser took me to my cage."

There was silence, and I held her closer to me. She must be so tired and hungry, I was going to murder all those whitecoats and Erasers for what they did to her.

The others were whispering "Oh Max" and Nudge had her hand over her mouth, probably either shocked or trying to stop herself from her non-stop talking.

"You can sleep now Max, I won't let them hurt you." I said, but she was already dozing off. Not wanting to wake her up, I waited a few minutes before trying to hold her broken arm in a stable position, and said, "Where are we going to go?"

"A cave maybe?" Iggy suggested.

"Yeah, but after that. We need a permanent place. Well one that's good for Max to heal."

"Oh, I know, I know! It's perfect! We can go to the place that Jeb told us about! The house, he said that it was already paid off and would continue to be paid off incase… something happened to him… it's perfect, and alone!"

"Nudge… you're a genius!" Iggy exclaimed. "Can we Fang?"

Sure, it seems like a good idea, but I should probably go over it with Max first. "Let's see what Max says. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for a cave, or a forest or some kind of shelter."

After about another hour Gazzy shouts "I found one!" and I fly down to take a look.

I land and tuck my wings in, but not completely in case I needed to fly. It was perfect, a nice cave next to the forest, the tall trees towering over us as if we were ants. The rest of the flock came down at my signal, and we walked in the cave.

It was a big cave, and as we walked around I took a left and saw a waterfall. There was fish in the little lake (A/N sorry this is probably really unrealistic). The others took it all in, I found a rock and sat on it, holding Max's arm in place.

She looked so peaceful when she was asleep, if she wasn't so bruised, you would never have guessed she was different, that she had wings.

"Fang?" I looked up at Angel. "We're all hungry." And I realized that since Max was asleep I was going to have to be the flock leader.

"Okay," I said, gently setting Max down and making sure her arm was in place, then stood up. "Iggy, the Gasman and I will go get wood and you two gather rocks. We'll put the rocks around in a circle so the fire doesn't spread and then use some of the wood to light a fire and some of it to catch the fish."

The others nodded and Iggy and Gazzy followed me out of the cave. While we were collecting branches Gazzy pipes up. "Fang, what if Max's wings don't heal right? What if she's not okay, what if the Erasers find us?" the little guy said, and he broke down.

"Gazzy, c'mon. It's gonna be okay, I promise. We're just gonna stop here for a day or two then fly to the house Jeb got us, away from the Erasers. Max is going to be okay, and I'm not going to let anything happen to any of us." Oh gods, he's nine years old! Those monsters, how could they do this to a frigging nine year old? He should be at a warm house without wings and be leading a normal life, with friends and school and no cares in the world. I wish Max were awake and okay, I have no idea what to do with crying nine year olds.

"God Fangles, you've been talking a lot today. I bet this is the most you've talked in two years! I'm impressed, I didn't know you had the vocabulary," Iggy stated and Gazzy laughed at my reaction to my new nickname.

"Well thank you Iggers. C'mon, we should be heading back. You okay Gasman?" Gazzy nodded and we walked back to the cave, where there was like thirty fist sized rocks.

(A/N I have no idea how to light a fire but I'm pretty sure this is how…) I walked over and made the rocks into a circle. Then I placed some of the wood inside the circle of rocks and grabbed two branches, rubbing them together super-fast, faster than any normal human could have done and it lit, and I dropped it in the circle, and we had a fire.

"Okay, um now I guess…" I stammered. I had no idea how we were going to catch the fish.

"Oh, I know!" Angel said, and she concentrated very very hard, "Nobody say anything," she said, and then I watched as one of the fish jumped out of the water and into her hands.

"Angel? How did you do that?" I asked cautiously.

"I asked it too."

"You what?"

"I asked it too. With my mind."

Okay then, I'll worry about this later. "Can I see the fish? And can you do that with more?"

Angel nodded and handed me the fish, then concentrated. I on the other hand, put the fish on a stick and held it over the fire, turning the fish. Soon we were all holding fish over the fire, and once they looked cooked we took the fish off the stick and… well ate it. I'm not going to give the details, it was kinda gross and we all had thirds, but who could blame us?

"You guys get some sleep, I'll take first watch." I said, knowing that's what Max would say. The others nodded and curled up in a ball on the floor. I kept the fire going, and once I was sure the others were asleep, I walked over to Max and reset her arm with some of the extra wood and tried to make a somewhat cast like thing. I looked at her and wished she were awake so we could talk and I would know she was okay.

"Iggy says I'm talking more, that I'm not that much of an emotionless wall now, but I haven't noticed. I'm not really sure what's happening, I just wanna talk whenever you're around, and I guess before we never had a chance too. I always thought you were just like the others in the flock, but seeing you like that earlier…" I said, shaking my head, wondering why I was saying this. "Seeing you like that made me realize you weren't the indestructible Maximum Ride, and how easy it could be to lose you, and I don't want that. I wanna be around you all the time, I wanna keep you safe, and Max, I don't know what you're doing to me, but don't stop." I say, sitting next to her and laying her head in my lap.

**A/N- I seriously love calling Fang Fangles. Like I was explaining to my friend what I thought was gonna happen in this fan fiction, and I would always go "And then Fangles goes…." So yea, I had to give him that nickname. And I'm sorry if you don't like that his feelings are growing faster than they did in the series or that the cave is completely unrealistic, but you're gonna have to either suck it up and read or not read at all. The every Friday thing might not work out, because if I finish earlier I don't like waiting to post it because it makes me feel bad, but please keep reviewing, because if you don't I will think nobody's reading and slow down updates or just stop the book overall. Okay, so I'm gonna go do my homework cause I have to go to swim in two hours so bye. - Maya**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer- All characters belong to James Patterson**

**A/N- Hey guys, what's up?**

Max's POV

I was in Fang's arms, he was telling me I could sleep and he would keep me safe, and then I was in darkness for a while, it was freaky, but then I heard Fang talking to me, saying he thought he wasn't the emotionless wall anymore and he wanted to keep me safe and he was feeling more, and his voice made me feel safe.

I wanted to reply, but I couldn't. I closed my eyes and repeated his words in my head, then opened them and gasped.

I was back in the school, in a dog cage, and it was like we'd never left. "I thought we left." I said out loud, and Fang answered grimly.

"So did I. But I won't let them touch you, don't worry." He sounded so confident, I almost believed him. Then I remembered: we're in _cages_. What chance did he have? Besides, they'll probably take me in for testing to see how much I've healed.

"But we _left_. As in, we were gone. How did we end up here?"

"You never left." Said one of the whitecoats that just entered the room, flanked by Erasers. "We injected you with a serum that made you think you had a chance to escape, and we got to see what you would do. (**A/N sorry y'all gotta add a little Divergent plus I think it's a good idea**)"

Gods, I seriously want to kill them. But they weren't done yet. They walked towards us, stopping at Nudges cage first. "It talks too much. Although it did have a good idea I think we're still going to kill it." one of the Erasers grabbed Nudge out of her cage and held her. They want to kill her. Oh gods, there are five Erasers here. Five of us are probably going to die.

They walked and stopped at Angel's cage next. "It is too advanced. If we take it to a stronger testing level, it could outwit us. We're going to have to kill it too." One of the Erasers ripped off the door and grabbed Angel.

Next was Gazzy. "Stay away from them! They're my family, that's my sister!"

"It's too smelly and it was totally useless during the simulation. Kill pile."

While one of the Erasers grabbed Gazzy they went on to Iggy. "Well I think we all know what's wrong with _this_ one." Another one of the Erasers grabbed Iggy as he sarcastically said, "Gee, I wonder whose fault it is that I'm blind."

It will be okay, we always survive, and we'll get out of this… right? The whitecoat stopped in front of Fang. "And _you_. It's certainly shown an ability to be a leader, but it's become more dangerous than ever, letting feelings in because of what we did to that one." Fang growled, and I knew he was trying to not say anything. "Kill it with the others."

The last Eraser came and ripped off Fangs cage door, but Fang was ready. He punched the Eraser and ran out of the cage. He stopped at the door. "Good luck with that."

"Oh please, you can't make a move against us, we have more power, and more importantly, we have your friends." The whitecoat said, walking over to my cage. "Maybe we should keep him and kill her instead."

"No." Fang said quickly, in a panicked voice. The whitecoat raiser her eyebrow.

"No?" she asked, "Since when do mutants make the rules?" she unlocked my cage door and the Eraser came and picked me up and I whimpered because of my stupid wings.

"Let her go! Let all of them go!" Fang said, and pretty soon he was on top of the whitecoat. He punched her in the face and broke her nose. "Let them go." He said murderously. "Let them go."

"Boys, I think you know what to do." She said, and the Erasers dropped us all, and Fang got off of the whitecoat. Then the Erasers closed in around Fang.

"Fang!" I shouted, but the Erasers paid no attention. They unsheathed their claws and scratched him until he whispered, "Max I-" and then the light left his eyes.

"No!" I yelled and woke up with a gasp, my heart racing. I sat up, looking around. I was in a cave, my head had been lying in Fangs lap. "Sorry. Bad dream." I looked down. My hand was wrapped in wood, and I realized it was a sorta cast.

"You sure you're okay?" He asked, sitting up. I nodded, smiling. It was just a dream, and we actually did escape. We were okay, this was going to be the first morning we have woken up away from our dog cages.

"Yeah, I'm just a little shaken up."

"You hungry?" Fang asked and suddenly I was aware of how hungry I was.

"Starving!" I said, and Fang got up. I started to stand to, but then almost fell and Fang caught me.

"Maybe you should stay here." He said, concern in his voice.

"I wanna come with you." I said. if he left me, my scrambled mind would probably go into flashback mode, and I didn't want that. He smiled and picked me up.

Fang carried me towards the fire, then sat me down. He grabbed one of the laying fish on the ground and stuck a stick in it, then handed it to me. "You hold the stick and turn it over the fire." He then got another one for himself and sat next to me.

"Fang?" he turned towards me, and I realized this was probably the closest I've ever been to him other than when I'm hurt. He had long black hair that flopped over his face, covering his mysterious black eyes. "Where are we going to go after this?"

"Nudge gave us an idea. Jeb, he said he had paid off the rent of the house and had it set up to have the rent paid off whenever it needs too, and I think he left us money there, too. He paid off the rent in case something happened to him, and we know where it is."

Jeb had been like a father to me, and I wished he were still here. "So we're going to the house he got for us?" I asked to clarify.

"Yep." Fang said. After a few moments of silence, he added, "I think our fishes are ready." I looked towards the fire, they were ready. I took mine out of the fire, and pulled it off the stick, grabbing the fish and biting into it, careful not to bite the bones. So maybe I don't have the best table manners.

(**A/N- I don't like fish so… I'm just gonna wing what it tastes like**). it was the best meal I've had in years, and I reached over for a second fish and plunked it on my stick. "This is amazing!" I said happily. I think this was the first time I have ever been so happy, other than the feeling I got when we escaped.

"Should we wake the others up? Then we can eat and leave." I suggested. I'm new at this but I think we should keep going. We might be too close to the School, and this place is out in the open.

"Sure." Fang said, getting up. He walked over to Iggy. "Iggers, wake up" he said, shaking him.

"Iggers?" I asked, smirking.

"Me and Fangles here got now nicknames." Iggy explained, and I laughed.

"Nudge. Time to wake up." Fang said, kneeling next to Nudge.

"Where are we?" she asked in a sleepy voice, and I smiled.

"You sure you're awake? We're about to go`"

"Oh, I remember. Hey Gazzy, Angel, wake up!" she says excitedly. Well there goes waking them up quietly. "We're gonna eat, and then we're gonna fly to Jeb's house and be safe and live happily ever after!"

Angel and Gazzy quickly got up and walked to the fish. _'Are you feeling okay Max?'_

'_Fine, thanks.'_ I thought back to Angel. She smiled and sat next to me, and Gazzy sat on the other side of me.

We all grabbed fish and stuck them in the fire. "Okay, so here's the plan. I'll fly to a gas station, then act like a normal kid and grab a map." Fang said, volunteering. I shot him a look. "What? You can't, Iggy's blind, and I don't wanna risk the others. You're all too young."

"Oh, fine." I mumbled. "Go." He got up and pulled out his wings.

"Be back in a flash." He said, and I watched him fly away.

**A/N Hey guys! It's Friday! Aren't you proud? You are probably thinking right now "Why should I be proud you updated so what?" well I seriously have the worst memory ever. So, who wants to hear about my life? I don't care if you said no, I'm still talking.**

**Okay so I'm 13 and play the clarinet and made All West Honor Band. I'm going on a Disney band trip in March, and I love to read. (if you've read this far comment- dingleberries) I have at least 200 books on my bookshelf, and I'm not overacting, I tried counting but I stopped at 212. Now, boys. Uh, the guy that I've liked for 2 years who's like one of my best friends is moving in March, so that sucks. If any of you have any ideas to get over him but not like never talk to him again please tell me - Maya**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer- I don't own the Maximum Ride characters. **

Fangs POV

I looked back and gave Max a reassuring smile. It felt so good to stretch my black wings. I started wishing I could stay with her, keep her safe, but I knew I couldn't. I have to go find out where we are, see how to get to the safe house. I couldn't have gone in with Max, someone would have called 911, I'm sure of it.

I flashed back to when Jeb was telling us his plan.

_* Cue Flashback *_

_It was two years ago, Max, Iggy and I were 14, Nudge was 10, Gazzy was 8, and Angel was 6. It was dark, but Max and I couldn't fall asleep._

_I spent the time trying to do something about the lock on my cage. I had never fully given up, I just looked less and less. It was dark, but not dark enough, because I could still see Max, and she could see me. _

"_Take a break and try and get some sleep," she whispered. "You might need it."_

_I shrugged, and she looked frustrated. She was about to give me a piece of her mind, I could tell, but then there were footsteps and it sounded like a cart was being pushed. Max looked surprised- whitecoats aren't allowed to be here after dark._

_She put her hands together and next to her face, signaling me to pretend to be asleep. I did it, but I kept my eyes open so I could get a good look at him. He wore glasses and had brown/blond hair. He stopped the cart he was pushing in front of us and smiled._

"_I know you're awake." He said, but I stayed still, closing my eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you. My names Jeb, and you can trust me." I almost laughed out loud when he said that. I couldn't trust anyone other than the flock._

"_I know you think you can't trust me, that I'm just like them, but I'm sickened by what they do here. The only reason I stay is to help mutants like you escape, and… the School took my daughter, I don't know who she is. I remember when you two were first brought in, there were other kids, with cat DNA injected into them. I guess you assumed they died or don't remember them, but I helped them escape." I remembered them. They told us where we are._

"_I brought you food, it's in the cart. They haven't been feeding you enough, you should be getting over 3,000 calories a day, but I doubt you're getting more than 1,000." He said, shaking his head sadly. I was so busy thinking how we couldn't trust him that I never noticed Angel get up until she spoke._

"_You can trust him, he's not lying." She smiled, and Gazzy, Nudge and Iggy sat up in their cages. I saw Max slowly sit up and I sat up too._

_I hope she's not wrong. _'Of course I'm not wrong.' _Sorry Angel._

"_Well, I brought you food, and I will continue to bring you food each night." He said, and he took the blanket off the cart. On the cart there was plenty of bread, fruit, sandwiches, chicken, and foods I haven't ever seen before. He pushed the cart to Max first, because she was closest._

_She looked at him hesitantly. "Maximum, I want you to trust me." He said, and he grabbed a piece of the bread and ate it. "It's not deadly, see? Please eat something." _

_Angel must have told her something, because she grabbed two pieces of bread, and he smiled and pushed to cart over to me. Max nodded from behind him, and I also grabbed two pieces._

_He then pushed the cart over to Iggy. "Ig, there's a guy who's going to put food in your cage, okay?" Max said, and Iggy nodded. Jeb grabbed two pieces of bread and put them into Iggy's cage._

_The kids didn't react the same, they grabbed everything they wanted and stuffed their faces. That was the first day we met Jeb._

_* Four months later *_

"_It's time to teach you about the outside world. If for some reason I'm not with you when you escape, here's what you need to know. 911. That's the police. The police come when there's been a crime scene or an emergency. If someone calls them because of you, fly away._

"_If you're on the run or flying to somewhere, stay in caves, preferably caves next to the forest. Or, if it's summer stay in abandoned ski house, because nobody uses those in the summer. If I don't make it with you to the house, there will be videos and instructions of how to fight and survive by yourselves."_

"_Why wouldn't you be coming with us?" Angel asked._

"_Well sweetie, these people, you know how they are about their experiments. They wouldn't want you to leave, and if I try to take you away from them, then they won't like that." Jeb explained softly._

_* Three months later *_

"_Guys, let's go." Jeb said, opening our cages. We had been over this, we were going to get into the giant cart and hide under the cover. Jeb was gonna push the cart out of the School and we would make a break for the safe house._

_We all crawled into the tight space, and we were almost to the door when around 10 Erasers stepped in front of us. This wasn't supposed to happen… "Hello boys. I'm checking out for the night." He said, but the Erasers didn't budge._

"_Please, Jeb…" a female whitecoat with black hair. She obviously had more authority than Jeb, because the Erasers were listening to her and not him. "We're not stupid. We know that experiments 0034, 0035, 0036, 0037, 0038, and 0039 aren't in their cages, and we've noticed that their weight has increased, and from the diet we've been keeping them on they shouldn't gain anything and shouldn't lose anything. When we started getting suspicious, we put video cameras up. We know all about your plan."_

"_Anne, I really have no idea what you're talking about. Why would I care about those specimen? Obviously i would rather waste my time with specimen one."_

"_Boys, take him and check his cart." 'Anne' said, and I knew this plan was going downhill. So did Max, because she gave us a signal that Jeb showed us, meaning to stay put until they come to us, then do a U and A (_**for those of you who don't know what a U and A is it's an Up and Away, which means… basically what it says**_). _

_One of the Erasers grabbed Jeb, but the others managed to surprise us. They instead of pulling the curtain up kicked the cart, letting us out, and we were shot with darts from scientists behind us. I felt my eyes go heavy and they closed, exposing me to darkness._

_* 3 hours later *_

_Somebody shook my cage until I woke up, then did it to the others. I was kinda confused at first, then remembered everything. What had happened to Jeb?_

"_Mutants, let this lesson be learned. If you try to escape us, bad things will happen." The whitecoat Anne said, and I looked up to see Jeb in the hands of the Erasers._

_The Erasers pulled out their claws and scratched Jeb, and kept scratching him until he bleed to death._

_All the kids started crying, but Max, Iggy, and I stayed strong. They took his dead body away and we all went to sleep._

_Once the kids and Iggy were all asleep, Max started crying, thinking I was asleep too. I didn't move, unsure what to do. I knew she couldn't be strong all the time, so I did nothing and let her not be strong for a moment._

_Once she was asleep, and I made sure of it, I let one tear down, and then stopped. Jeb wouldn't want us like this, he'd want us to get a plan and try again until we succeed. So I went to sleep, trying to figure out a plan. _(**A/N- I figured you guys may be wondering why the flock knew so much of the outside world even though they've never been on the outside.**)

_* End Flashback *_

I looked down and saw some kind of gas station, so I flew down and saw a dump. I looked for some kind of clean shirt or sweatshirt to cover up my ripped shirt and saw one and put it on.

Then I walked into the gas station and looked around. There was a place called 'Wendy's' and the photo was a red-head girl. There were aisles of food and snacks and souvenirs. I finally moved away from the door and walked towards the food section. Then I noticed how much food I would be getting. I asked the lady at the desk for a bag so I could put food in there, and she smiled, looked me up and down, and gave me three bags.

I then went back to the food area and grabbed about 30 apples (**A/N – apples are like my favorite food**), three loaf bread packages, 6 backpacks, some gum, 6 chocolate bars, some clothes for myself and the others, and a road map. I was going to go pay, but then I saw a first aid kit and decided to get that too. I went back to the lady, who was stunned.

"T-That'll be $175 (**I'm guessing I don't have time cause I gotta finish the chapter to update cause it's Friday and I'm in a hurry so yeah**)." She said, and I pulled out the $200 that Iggers gave to me before we left and handed it to her. "Here's your change." She said, handing me $25. And I bolted out.

Once I was far enough away, I threw off the sweatshirt and opened my wings, flying off. It took me longer to get back, because the stuff was holding me back. In the end I was exhausted, and collapsed on the cave floor.

"Fang!" Max yelled, and I sighed.

"Don't get up." I panted. "The load was just… real heavy." Of course she didn't listen to me, because she stood up without thinking, and almost fell, but Nudge ran over and caught her, helping her walk over to me.

"What'd you bring? I hope it's not too heavy and I hope I like it and it's yummy and that-" Max put her uninjured hand over Nudges mouth and sat down.

"Well what did you bring?" Gazzy said, running over. Iggy and Angel weren't far behind him, Angel holding his hand, making sure he didn't trip over anything.

I sat up and opened the bags. "Oh, my god you got us chocolate! I've never had any before, neither of us have, I wonder what it taste like. It'll probably-"

"You'll never know if you don't try." I said, trying to sound annoyed, but I knew I was smiling. Nudge grabbed the chocolate bars and handed them to each of us. I unwrapped mine and took a bite. It tasted amazing, and I devoured the rest of mine.

"Oh, my god this is probably the greatest thing I've eaten in my life." That's probably the shortest thing she's ever said in her life.

'_Fang!'_

Ange, stay out of my mind.

'_Are you gonna tell Max that you loooovvve her?'_

Out. Now. I put up a block in my mind and thought about what she said (**AN- sorry y'all realized that Angel needed to start looking through minds more**). Did I love Max? I mean, I've been feeling more around her, and she is beautiful, but I don't know. I was ready to give myself up for her in the School, but I would've done that for any of the flock members.

"Fang?" Gazzy asked. "I'm still hungry."

"C'mon Gasman, did you really think that was all I brought?" I asked, bringing out the apples and bread. Then I saw the first aid kit and remembered why I bought it. "Oh, Max." I said, grabbing it and moving closer to her.

"Yeah?" she asked. I opened the box and grabbed some gauze (**For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the tapey thingy that's soft and this is not a good example so look it up on google**). I took the wood off her arm and she flinched, reminding me how much I wanted to kill the Erasers who did this to her.

"Okay, hold your injured arm in healing position." I said, and she did, but I could tell it hurt.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Not a clue." I replied as I wrapped it around her shoulder and back to her arm, doing it about three times. "Okay, let go of your arm." She did, and her arm stayed in place. (**I'm not sure if gauze is that strong but you're going to have to get over it sorry if I sound mean I gotta finish this!**)

"Thanks." She said, and then grabbed an apple. I grabbed one too and ate it. "Okay guys, after 3 apples each let's get going." She said louder, and the others were talking a lot, but I was lost in my thoughts, not paying attention to the conversation, not paying attention while I grabbed another apple, then a third.

"Okay guys, let's get going." Max said, and I stood up first, grabbing her arm to steady her.

"Wait." I said, pulling out the 6 backpacks and clothes. Nudge practically squealed and grabbed hers, the others just grabbed them.

"Okay, ladies first. We'll go change behind the waterfall, and you can change over here." Max said, and winced as she took a few steps away from me without any support, and Nudge went over and helped her. I bent down and grabbed the first aid kit and took out the scissors, cutting slits in my new shirt for my wings. I handed the scissors to Gazzy who cutout his and Iggys.

"You guys clothed?" I heard Max's voice.

"Don't you wanna see Fangles abs?" Iggy yelled and I wanted to tell him to shut up, but didn't.

"Is that a yes?" she asked as I put my jeans and shirt on. I looked the others and yelled "Yeah."

Max came in, holding the wall for support, wearing the new jeans I got her but not the shirt. When she noticed me noticing she shrugged. "I don't wanna try and force my wings in." oh, right. I walked over and put her good arm around my shoulder.

"Kay, well how about I take you back to the girls so they can cut the back of their shirts?" I asked and walked her towards the girls. Once we were close she said, "I can take it from here," and I gave her the scissors and walked her towards the wall. She used it for support and gave the girls the scissors, then walked back towards me. We returned back to the position we were in earlier and walked back to the guys. I sprouted out my wings and picked up Max, getting inpatient.

"Relax Fang. Why are you so tense? We escaped and we're on our way to a safe place, and that's all that matters." I wanted to tell her. To tell her it's because she's so weak now, what if the Erasers caught up with us and I couldn't fight because of her in my arms? What if we got off course and got lost? What if her wings don't heal properly? But I didn't. I didn't say anything.

Angel and Nudge finally came, and unfolded their wings too. Everyone each grabbed a backpack, Iggy grabbed mine and Nudge grabbed Max's, leaving Gazzy with the food and first aid kit and Angel with the map.

"Let's go!" Max said, and we all flew up.

**A/N- I'm gonna be in so much troble cause I was supposed to turn the computer off 30 minutes ago but I had to finish this. I changed my name, and I would love to update you on my life but I gotta go if you want this on Friday, so really quickly…**

**Question of the Chapter- Should I bring Jeb back? Cause I mean he didn't save them, but he could still be alive, right? Please tell me what you think. – Maya**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer – I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the other characters.**

**AN – guys I decided to bring him back. I had 2 comments saying I should and 1 saying that they didn't care either way was fine so here he is!**

Anne's POV (**guys I haven't read the books for a while I don't remember who Anne was but I know she was evil so in this she's like the lead whitecoat in the School**)

"Anne!" one of the Erasers called out. "They're gone! The winged specimen are gone!"

"What?!" I yelled, running into the room with a clipboard. "What do you mean, they're gone?"

"They're not in their cages, and the glass is shattered. There's a dead Eraser over there, the one who was supposed to be carrying specimen 01 (**Max**)."

"Show me the tape." I demanded, and the Eraser guided me to a different room full of screens. He pressed a few buttons (**ha I don't know any tech stuff so sorry**) and the video of the flock escaping came up on the biggest screen.

"What did you do to her?!" I heard specimen 02's (**Fang**) voice come from the screen. I chuckled at the Erasers reply.

"Damn you!" specimen 02 screamed, and here's where things got interesting. He started hitting his cage. The first time, it shook, but the second time, the cage flipped over and the lock shattered.

He stood up, surprised at first, but then got into a fighting stance. The Eraser, though, grabbed specimen 01 and pulled out a knife, holding it to her neck.

I watched as specimen 02 backed down, thinking. He then asked the Eraser what it would do if he didn't do what the Eraser wanted, and then all hell broke loose. The other specimen were screaming as the Eraser brought the knife down on 01's broken arm, and 02 attacked him, killed him. He then proceeded to opening specimen 03 04 05 and 06's cages. He then ran to 01, the others following, and they decided what they were going to do. 02 flew through the window, shattering the glass, then came flying back to take 01 in his arms and they all flew off.

"Well," I said to the other scientists who entered the room to watch, "It seems 02 has some super strength, but he doesn't know it. First the cage breaking, then the window shattering. The cage may have been an acceptation, but the windows should have definitely kept them trapped. Then we also know that 02's been trying to escape for a long time now, but breaking the cage only worked now. The logical explanation is that he hated seeing 01 hurt so his super strength finally kicked in. it also looks like they would do anything for family."

"But ma'am, where did they go?" asked one of the whitecoats, and I smiled.

"Ari?" I asked, and he turned around, "Bring me prisoner 092. You can punch him a few times if you want, but I need him awake." Ari smirked and walked out of the room. He came back soon holding a body of a bruised man with white/gray hair. Jeb.

"Hello Jeb. How are you?" I said.

"Whatever it is you want, I'm not going to help you." Jeb said tiredly.

"Maybe now, but I want to show you a little video clip." I said, then hit the rewind button to show the video of the flock escaping.

I studied Jeb as he watched his precious bird kids escape here, and he winced when he first saw 01, and winced a lot more times like when the Eraser dropped her, when the Eraser cut her arm, and when 02 flew through the window. Then he smiled.

"So what is it you want me to do?" Jeb asked innocently, but I knew he knew exactly what I wanted him to do.

"Well, we know you were attached to these specimen, and we know you were helping them escape, and we want them back. We assume that they went somewhere that you know of, and we want you to tell us where."

"Never. I won't betray the flock." Jeb said stubbornly.

"Very well." I said, then directed my words towards Ari. "Take him the room 1 (**calling it the Torture Room seems kinda stupid so room 1 it is**). Do what you want with him until I get there, say what you want, I'll be there shortly." I said, and watched as Jeb's face turned fearful, of course he knew what happened in room 1, but he didn't say anything about the flock's location.

I took the long way to the room, giving Ari time with his father. Ari despised Jeb now, wanted to hurt him so much he would be begging for death for what he did. He forgot about Ari, was going to leave him here while he saved the flock, and Ari hates him for that. He came, asking us if we could change him so he could hurt his dad, and we gave him what he wanted.

As I walked down the hall to room 1, all the experiments shrank in their cages, thinking I was there for them. They all recognized me, they all feared me the most, but it's their lucky day.

I opened the door to room 1 to see Ari beating Jeb up, punching him in the face and gut repeatedly. "Ari?" I asked, and he looked up. Jeb recognized the name, he had no idea what had become of Ari.

"S-son?" he asked, in a mixed voice of fear and hope. Ari smirked, not a trace of regret on his face.

"Hello _dad_." He said the last word like it was poison.

"What have they done to you?" Jeb whispered, and Ari laughed an evil laugh.

"More like what did _you_ do to me? You choose the flock over me, you're son, the normal one. You were going to take them to a safe place and leave me here, leave me here without another thought, because the only per- no, the only living thing you care about in the world is Maximum. The perfect bird girl, my sister, you were going to pick her over me. And you did. So I asked them to do this to me, so that I would be strong enough to hurt you, to kill you.

"And guess what, _dad_? It paid off, because guess who broke little Maxie's wings? That was my idea, just to get back at you." Once he was done, he turned to me. "Yeah Anne?"

"I have something much more effective than your punches," I said, and pointed to the whip across the room. While Ari went to get it, I said to Jeb, "It doesn't have to be like this. Just tell us where they went. I'm sure it'll be enough to redeem yourself in your son's eyes."

"That… that monster isn't my son, and I will never tell you." Jeb said as Ari returned with the whip. Ari ripped off Jeb's shirt, eager to start.

I nodded towards Ari, and he brought the whip against Jeb's skin. Jeb screamed as Ari did it over and over again, blood staining the already blood-stained floor. "Slow down Ari, wait between lashes, otherwise, the old sting will dull into the new." (**I don't actually know that as a fact but if you've seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame that's what Frollo says to a guy torturing a prisoner**)Ari grinned and started again, slowing down. I motioned for him to stop.

"Ready to talk, Jeb?" I asked, and Jeb didn't say anything. "Pity." I motioned for Ari to start again as I left the room.

* Time skip to like 15 minutes later *

I came back in the room carrying a needle. It was time to get the answers out the hard way, and I still don't want to waste this on him but I need those experiments.

"Ari, sit him up." I said, and I could tell he was disappointed, but he didn't argue. "Alright Jeb, I didn't want to do this, but in my hand I hold serum 09385. It'll make you give the answers we want whether you like it or not."

At that Jeb feebly tried to hit it out of my hands, but Ari held them down. I injected Jeb with the serum, and then took the needle out. "What's your name?" I asked, testing it.

"Jeb Batcheldor." He replied quickly, and I smirked.

"Now, where do you think the flock would head?" I asked, and I knew he was resisting, but it didn't work.

"In the Colorado Mountains in a house shaped like an E." Jeb said in a strained voice as a tear came down his cheek.

"That'll be all. Ari, take him back to his cell." Ari roughly grabbed Jeb and carried him out of the room and towards his prison cell.

I called a meeting and all the scientists and some Erasers came. "We know where the winged specimen went. They're in the Colorado Mountains in an E shaped house."

"When do we leave?"

"Give them a year to ease up, then we attack. Ari will be leading the Erasers, and they will bring them back alive." A few Erasers groaned, and I added, "Alive doesn't mean unharmed. Dismissed." All the scientists left, the Erasers following.

Have fun while it lasts Maximum, because we're coming for you, and we'll get you back. And you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

** AN- If you didn't notice, Jeb's back! Yay! And I used got the truth serum from Divergent because I didn't want Jeb to betray them but knew he had too. I'm posting this early cause I'm going to need a lot of time for the next chapter, because I think it's going to be the longest one yet. I'll try for Friday, but it might be on later. But please put in the reviews questions and requests. I want to answer all of them, but I don't know how so I'll answer/reply here.**

**Violet Hills of Light – ha glad you saw what I did there.**

**Mandypanda8****- happy early B-day! Hope you post soon!**

**MelodyInfinity- glad you like the bring Jeb back idea.**

**And to all the Guests who I'm assuming are different people- thanks for commenting!**

**If I'm forgetting you it's cause I'm sleepy so sorry. Just tell me what you think or want to see in the next chapters and I'll try and have it in there!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer – I don't own Maximum Ride**

Max's POV

I woke up with a gasp. I was still having the same nightmare- Erasers chasing me, Erasers with guns. They chase me to the edge of a cliff and then I jump, spreading my wings out at the last moment. Every night it's been the same since we escaped the School a year ago.

I quietly put on some sweats and went down the stairs, enjoying the few minutes of peace and quiet I had. I went to the kitchen to rustle for food, but I knew I was going to have to wait until Iggy woke up.

_* Cue Flashback *_

_ I knew it was going to be a long flight from the cave to the house, and I was right. It took around 5 hours, counting the breaks. Of course once we made it to the house, we were all excited. We wanted to know what everything was and where everything was, and when we were at the door there was a note on it. It said, _

Dear Flock,

If I'm not here with you, I'm sorry, but I'm happy you made it at all. I think I made it pretty obvious whose room belongs to who, and I've left food recipes and DVD's on the table. The DVD's will show you fighting instructions and other necessary things, and there is a huge closet in there with clothes with slits in them for your wings. Every month you will need to go food shopping, and I've left a list of mandatory foods. Please, stay safe, and follow my instructions.

With love,

Jeb.

_I grabbed the letter and read it to everybody, then took the key off the back and unlocked the door. It was overwhelming, there were couches and chairs and tables… and they were ours. I don't think anything has ever been ours other than the horrible white hospital clothes the School gave us. I was going to have to wear it for at least another month, because I don't wanna try to force my wings in._

_ Nudge freaked out. "Oh, my god(s), it's all ours, and there's a huge fridge over there, I bet there's a lot of food, and there's a closet somewhere with clothes! Our clothes that we can choose from! It's ours, and we're gonna be safe and live happily ever after and Max is gonna get better here and we're gonna learn how to protect ourselves and… and it's so amazing, you know?" I didn't have the heart to shut her up._

_ The guys went upstairs, and I heard Gazzy's excited voice, "Iggy!" then he quieted down. Fang came down the stairs, with an oh-no-we're-dead expression._

_ "What's wrong?" I asked, using the table to support myself._

_ "Jeb left them instructions on how to make _bombs_," he said._

_ "NO MAKING BOMBS UNTIL AT LEAST A MONTH, YOU HEAR?" I yelled, and I heard two "fines" in reply._

_ "Max, I wanna see my room." Angel said quietly. Fang picked me up, bridal style._

_ "What was that for?" I asked, irritated. Okay, maybe I enjoyed it a little, but still! _I think Fang enjoys it too. _Angel, stay out of my mind!_

_ "You can't walk up the stairs," Fang explained as if it were the most obvious thing ever. "You'll hurt yourself even more."_

_ "Oh, whatever. Just take me up the stairs and be done with it." I commanded, and we were up the stairs, Angel by our side. Fang gently put me down, and I started to walk without falling. "See? My super-healing's working its magic already." _

_ When I saw my room, I thought it was perfect, and a bit too much. There was an attached door to the bathroom, and on the other side of the bathroom was a bigger room that Nudge and Angel would be sharing. "The boy's is like that to." Fang said as Nudge pouted._

_ "How come you get your own room?" she asked, and I smiled._

_ "You can have all the girly clothes I don't like," I said, and she squealed._

_ "You're the best Max!" she said, hugging me._

_ "Okay, okay, let's go figure out who can cook the best." I said, and pretty soon we were all in the kitchen._

_ "Okay, so, let's start with something simple. Uh, scrambled eggs. Each of you take two, and I'll judge."_

_ In the end, we all learned Iggy was the best cook. At first, I was cautious of a bling guy cooking, but I got over it._

_* 1 month later *_

_ My arm had healed and I could walk by myself, and today, I was going to test my wings._

_ "You sure Max?" Fang asked cautiously. We were becoming closer and closer, and I knew the others were thinking about us._

_ "I'm positive. You can fly under me in case it doesn't work or if it makes you feel better, but I'm still going to try, whether you like it or not." I said, walking out of the house. The others were excited, waiting for me outside. Fang followed me out, pulling out his wings._

_I still got mesmerized by them. They were huge and black, like the shadow he used to be. The others were standing at the edge of a cliff, one a lot like my dreams. Fang jumped and flapped, soaring through the sky._

_I took a deep breath and jumped, snapping my wings out. It hurt a lot, but I forced myself to stay silent, and I realized they weren't still broken, just aching because they haven't been used in almost a month. I soared through the sky, and dropped next to Fang. "Told you." I said, smirking._

_ "Okay, you were right, happy?" he said, and I laughed._

_ "Very." I said, and we soared together in a comfortable silence. I could feel his eyes on mine, and I turned to look at him, his eyes mesmerizing, with a trace of happiness. I blushed and turned away. I'm not sure what Fang and I are right now. He kissed my forehead on our first night when he thought I was asleep. _

_I heard a big bang from behind us, and immediately we both turned around to see colorful sparks fall through the sky. Fang was tensing to run, but I gave him the signal to wait._

_` "Surprise!" Gazzy said, showing up behind us. "Aren't they pretty? Jeb says they're called fireworks, and normal people use them on special occasions, so I figured since it's been a month, we could start making explosions and it seemed like a special occasion so yeah."_

_ "You made these?" I asked, not sure what to make of it. They were pretty, but they looked dangerous._

_ "You said a month," Iggy pointed out, coming up from behind us. He had a point._

_ "Fine, as long as you're allowed to make them at least make some for our protection." I said._

_ "Sure can do. Can we practice fighting skills now?" Gazzy asked, and I smiled. We had finally learned how to use the TV, and things seemed to be going up._

_* End flashback *_

"Morning Max." I heard behind me and I turned to see Gazzy, snapping me out of my flashback.

"Morning Gazzy," I said, dropping a kiss on his head and ruffling his hair.

"What's for breakfast?" he asked quietly.

"It's a surprise." I said since I had no idea.

"I'll pour juice." Gazzy offered, hoping up and walking past me. I heard a thump and walked into the living room to find Iggy lying on the couch.

"Hey Ig, rise and shine." I said.

"Bite me." He replied sleepily.

"Fine, miss breakfast." I said, walking back towards the fridge. Maybe the food fairies had come. I stiffened when the back of my neck prickled. I turned quickly spun around. "Would you _quit_ doing that?" I said, and Fang smiled. He had grown since we escaped a year ago, now 4 inches taller.

"Quit what? Breathing?" he asked calmly.

"You know what." I said frustrated, rolling my eyes as Fang pecked me on the cheek. We had grown closer since we escaped, finally breaking the friend zone.

"Urgh, no PDA in the morning, it hurts my eyes," Iggy said, and I laughed. Iggy always made jokes about his eyesight, and I knew him well enough to know that he would rather us laugh at them then act uncomfortable. "I'll make eggs." He said, getting up and walking towards the kitchen. It may bother some people that a blind person can cook better than them, but I've learned to accept it. I pulled away from Fang.

"Fang? You set the table. I'll go get Nudge and Angel." I said, walking upstairs. Nudge was still asleep, and I walked over and gently shook her. "Hey, sweetie, up and at 'em." I said, and she blinked, her brown eyes trying to focus. "Breakfast in ten."

"Wha'?" she asked, and I smiled. At least it wasn't her motor mouth.

"Another day. Get up and face it." Nudge semi sat up on her bed, groaning. She would get up and get dressed by herself, so I walked towards Angel's part of the room. I love Angel's part, because it was exactly how I would have kept it, but I had to clean mine because I have to be the example. She can keep it messy. _'I like my part too, but I wish it were as clean as yours.'_

"You're awake," I said happily, walking past her curtain. "And you're dressed."

"Not fully, can you do my buttons?" she asked, turning around. I buttoned her up. Angel was like my little baby, and I took care of her like she was my actual little sister.

"More like a mom." She said, smiling. She hugged me, and I smiled, holding her hand and walking back down the stairs, where breakfast was ready.

* _Ten minutes later *_

"Can we go pick strawberries today? They're ripe now." Angel said, scooping a forkful of scrambled eggs.

"I'll go with you." Gazzy offered, and then he let rip one of his… unfortunate occurrences.

"Jeez Gazzy!" I said disapprovingly.

"Gas… mask!" Iggy choked out.

"I'm done!" Fang said, throwing down his fork, picking up his plate and walking towards the sink.

"How about we all go? I think we could use some fresh air." Nudge suggested, and I smiled.

"Great idea. Let's go guys." I said, and we all walked out the door and towards the strawberries. (**Sorry if it's bad from here on out I can't find my book**)

"Max, if you make a cake, we can have strawberry shortcake!" Angel said, and Iggy and Gazzy burst out laughing.

"The day Max bakes a cake will be the day that Gazzy fixes his immune system." Iggy said, cracking up. "Don't worry Ange, I'll bake the cake." He said.

"Oh, thank god(s) (**I'm going to add an s every time they say god(s) you're gonna have to get over it okay? Okay.**)." I said, grateful. I'd probably burn down the house! _I think Iggy and Gazzy would do that first._ Good point Ange.

As we were walking, Fang came next to me. "I've got a bad feeling about today." He whispered, and I immediately put up a block in my mind, knowing he did the same.

"Iggy, you're in charge, you guys go ahead." I said, and they smirked and kept walking. Once they were out of hearing range, I turned back to Fang. "It's probably just because it's been a year, exactly. Why do you think I even let them think about going to the strawberries? I'm trying to distract them, you should just do the same."

"I know, but still. It doesn't seem like them to come and get us directly after we escape, they'd probably want to wait some first, make us think we're safe." He said, trying to reason with me. "Look, I just think we should take them back inside and do it tomorrow, waiting a day isn't going to hurt."

"And what would we tell them? Fang, we both need a break, we can't just worry every day. We need to relax and not think about the… that place for a while. If you're so worried, you can take watch, but I say that we let them have fun." I said. I had a feeling in my gut, telling me that Fang was right and that we should go back, but I didn't listen to it.

"I'm just a little over edge, I had a dream last night, the whitecoats prepping the Erasers for a fight. I guess it's weird, I've been having the same dream and now it just changed. "C'mon, let's go catch up with them." He said, and I let the block down, taking his hand.

_MAX! FANG! Help!_ I heard Angels voice, and I snapped out my wings. I guess Fang was right. If anything happened, it would be my fault.

(**I was gonna leave it here you're so welcome.**)

I knew Fang was beside me without looking, and we flew at top speed to the strawberries, and landed. There was blood on the ground, smoke, probably from a bomb, and the grass had been trampled on. Angel, where are you? _Look… up…_ her voice sounded weak in my head and I quickly became twice as worried. Angel was a tough kid, could sometimes make people do stuff with her mind. What would make her weak enough to barley send a mind message?

I shook those thoughts out of my head as I immediately flew up and saw a chopper, how I had not heard it I didn't know. I knew Fang was upset he hadn't heard it also. Ange, we're coming, hang in there!

I held out my hand, signaling for Fang to stay put as I peeked through the window. I looked, and was astonished by what I was looking at. The copter was _bigger on the inside _(**sorry guys I HAD TOO! You get a cookie if you know where that's from! (::) any Superwholocks out there?**). I quickly recovered from my surprise when I saw my flock beaten and a bit bloody, and Angel looked like she had the worst of it, trying to stay awake.

Don't worry baby, Fang and I are gonna save you. I flew back to Fang, who was waiting, clenching and unclenching his fists, which meant he was impatient and wanted to do something but was restraining himself. "Fang?" I whispered, getting his attention. He turned and nodded, letting me know he was listening. He knew not to waste time talking. "T-the copter… it's bigger on the inside, and Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel are all in cages." Fangs eyes widened a little, confusion and a bit of fear in them, but also hard determination.

"You go save them, I'll be the distraction." He said. I didn't want him to, but we didn't have another choice. I nodded, and he flung himself into the copters window, breaking through the glass just like the day we escaped.

Once the Erasers noticed him, they all charged him, leaving one to guard the cages. After Fang had taken out one, I quietly flew through the window. I then flew as fast as I could to the Eraser guarding my flock, and he smiled. Why is he smiling? Whatever, he won't be smiling for long, although he did look familiar…

He stood like a brick wall in my path, not bothering to move. I rammed him, and he was on the floor. I immediately jumped up and ran to my flock. That was my mistake. _Max… look out…_ but it was already too late and I tripped over a wire, which triggered a cage to appear from the ground I was standing on, that being the bottom, and the top landing on me. I hit it again and again, but it looked like they had somehow fused together. "ARRGH!" I screamed as I hit the cage again and again, but it wouldn't budge.

I looked up to see how Fang was doing, and saw that he was fighting, but had a bloody nose, and he looked exhausted. "Look out!" I screamed as an Eraser came behind him and hit him square on the head, knocking him out cold. "Fang." I whispered as an Eraser picked him up and threw him in his cage.

I knew there was no hope, that we are going back to the School, but I didn't say it out loud. Angel had fallen asleep, but she was stirring, she probably had nightmares. But still, I banged my cage door and made as much of a ruckus as I could. If they were going to take me back, it wasn't going to be easy.

"Would you SHUT UP?!" an Eraser came over towards my cage, the one that looked familiar.

"Well, I could, but I can see it's annoying you, so no." I said, smirking. Who did I know from the School that's an Eraser?

"You need to stop before you drive us crazy." He demanded, and I laughed.

"I need to stop? Really, and how do you think you're going to accomplish that?" I asked, kicking the cage once again just to annoy him. He can't control me.

"How about hurting your precious flock?" he asked, smirking. Oh no he didn't. He did not just threaten my flock. But what could I do about it, I'm stuck in a frigging dog cage. "That's what I thought." He said, and I wanted to kick the cage again, but I restrained myself. I won't let my flock be hurt because I couldn't keep myself from taunting an Eraser.

"Where do I know you from?" I spit out. It was bothering me so much, I had to know.

He smirked, and I clenched and unclenched my fists. "Don't you remember me Maxie?" he asked, and I tried, but I couldn't. "Awe, c'mon. Let's play a game, shall we?" he asked, and I immediately had a bad feeling about this. He walked towards Fang's cage and smirked. "For every guess you get wrong, I kick Mr. Emotionless." He said, opening Fang's cage. Fang was still unconscious.

"And if I don't play the game?" I asked, and he smiled.

"I want to kick him anyways, he's always bothered me. But this way, there'll be a stop to it."

"Are you a scientists son?" I asked.

"Correct, but I didn't hear a name, and I don't think of him as a dad anymore, after he was going to escape and leave me." He said, and I winced as he kicked Fang, who moaned.

"You… you… you were 7 years old…" I whispered. I didn't realize Jeb wasn't planning to bring him.

"I'm still not hearing a name." he said, kicking Fang again.

"Ari." I said, and he smirked, picking Fang and throwing him into his cage once again.

"Very good Maxie."

"You used to play with toy cars and be a normal 7 year old. Why?" I asked.

"Jeb left me." He said, putting as much venom in his voice as possible. "He didn't want his own son, he would rather have you… experiments. He was going to leave me there alone. Parentless. He didn't even bother to tell me he was leaving. I had to hear it from the scientists. And I hate him, hated him, so I decided to become more powerful so that I could destroy the thing he loved most. You. And I promise I will kill you Maxie. I promise."

"Ari, I… I'm sorry." I stuttered, and he laughed.

"I don't need your pity." He sneered. "And you know what? I want the first thing you see, the first thing you smell after this conversation is the School." He opened my cage door and grabbed me. "Then you'll realize it's not a dream, and you know what? Remember what we did to you last time? What we're gonna do this time is going to make that seem like a bruise." Oh god(s) last time it was just me, but now everyone would be hurt. "Goodnight Maxie." He said, dropping me and punching my head, making me fall unconscious.

_* about an hour later…*_

"Wh… where are we?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my head. I looked around and saw the bars to my cage, but it was one of the big cages with the rest of the flock. Wait, cage? I smelled some chemicals and remembered exactly what happened. Kidnapping, Ari, getting knocked out.

"Max… they got us… we're at the School." Fang said, his voice grim as my suspicions were confirmed.

**A/N- sooooo sorry guys don't be mad at me I have good reasons for not posting on Friday. Basically they all have to do with All West. I wasn't on my computer for a day and a half and wasn't finished, and I was gonna give you a short, choppy chapter but realized you would probably want the wait and an amazing chapter, and then when I was done the internet went out, so yeah, and this is the first time I could get on. So yeah, that's why I haven't updated…**

** Tell me what you want to see. And also, I demand 3 comments before I post the next chapter, okay? Okay. No more until 3 comments. that doesn't mean I will post as soon as I get 3 comments, it means if on Friday I don't have 3 I'm not posting.**

** Question of the Chapter- are you going to watch the Super Bowl?**

** My response- I'm only going to watch halftime, and I'm probably one of the only people doing that. But like last year I didn't even know the Super Bowl was on the day before, so I walked into French class and everyone was talking about the commercials and me and this guy were just sitting there like "wtf is happening here?" - Maya**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer- I don't own Maximum Ride**

Fangs POV

"Max… they got us… we're at the School." I told Max, and I could tell she was freaking out, but she tried to hide it from the others. _She's not doing a very good job they knew she's scared also._

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"We've been here around an hour." I replied, and she looked shocked.

"I've been out for over an hour?" she said loudly, but not screaming.

"Take it easy." Iggy told her, and I knew he made a mistake, because she lost it.

"Take it easy?! In case you haven't noticed, we're in the School! They got us back, like what I was always afraid of, not because of what they did to me, but because one day they might take you and you won't come back! I promised I wouldn't let them take us, and here they are. I let you all down, and you're telling me to take it easy? It's all my fault, if I were more careful I would have told you not to go strawberry picking, this wouldn't happen!" she said, breaking down. I shifted towards her and put my arm around her as tears fell down her face.

"Shhhhh Max it'll be okay, I promise. And don't tell us you're sorry, because everyone needs to let it out. Now please, calm down." I said calmly. I was also as freaked out as Max, but I hid it better.

_You're scared too?_ Oh Ange, we're all scared, me and Max just have to act like we aren't, so don't blow our cover. _Okay._

"Max?" Angel said gravely. "They know we're awake. They're coming."

"Okay." Max said, desperately trying to calm down. She wiped her tears and looked normal again, and pretty soon we heard footsteps. I looked to see Ari (the flock filled me out on what happened), 2 other Erasers, and 3 scientists.

I squeezed Max's hand in reassurance, and she squeezed back. "Welcome back," said the main scientist, and I heard Max hiss. I then realized she looked familiar, then it hit me. She was Anne, the woman who ordered the Erasers to kill Jeb.

"What do you want?" she hissed at her, and Anne laughed.

"You can get rid of the tough act, we all know you're really a scared little girl that doesn't want her family to get hurt. That's sweet hon, but it's gonna happen anyways, and you being complicated is going to make it worse for them, I promise you it will happen. So I suggest you just get over it, because you are never getting away again and I swear if you struggle you will be the only bird kid left, and I will make you watch as they have a slow, painful death." Max's grip tightened on my hand and I could tell all she wanted to do was lash out at them and I wanted to also, but we both knew the consequences. She stayed shut and Ari grinned.

"That's what I thought," Ari started. "I told you little Maxie wouldn't allow anything to happen to her family." So this was Ari's idea. I swear I'm going to rip him apart. _F-fang they think you have s-super strength, they're gonna take you and M-max first._ Ange don't give the satisfaction of seeing you cry, be strong. We'll get out of this.

"Take out 0034 and 0035. The rests punishments will come later." One Eraser opened the door while one grabbed Max and Ari grabbed me.

"One wrong move bird boy, just one, please? I wanna hurt them, especially Max, I want to kill her so badly. I want to see your face when I kill her, see you actually have emotion and laugh in your face." I knew he was trying to provoke me, but I still felt a pang of fear. I clenched my hands and unclenched them, putting up my emotionless mask and not responding.

I stared at Max. This could be the last time I ever saw her. The last time I ever saw her beautiful chocolate brown eyes and brown/blond hair. I wish I had more time with her. No, I promised her I would keep her safe, and I will.

Max was looking at me too, and we stared at each other the whole way there. They took us into a large room and took us to opposite sides of the room. They brought out a whip and took it to Max's side of the room while putting me on a chair and strapping me to the chair with strong metal, stronger than what the cages bars are.

They then strapped Max to the floor, only strapping her legs and arms, on her back. They then put stronger restrainments around me. They had never done anything like this before, always only one person was taken. Also they said something about punishment. I don't care, I could ask them to do it all on me, but they would say no but I'll ask anyways.

"Alright!" said Anne, coming into the room and standing in the middle. "0035, we have reason to believe you have super strength." So Ange was right. Max looked as shocked as I felt, and she continued. "First off, you shouldn't have been able to break your cage, and secondly, you defiantly shouldn't have been able to break through the window. Then it becomes more complicated. Why couldn't you unlock it before and escaped? Well, we think the answer to that is simply because you saw 0034 hurt, and that triggered a lot of anger inside you and used that anger as fuel." I realized what she wanted to happen, but decided to play dumb.

"I think you're mistaken, this is ridicules." I said, but I think you could hear a trace of fear in my voice.

"I'm mistaken? I guess we'll just have to find out." She said, signaling the Erasers to come. They all went towards Max. "We're going to torture her until you're able to unlock that super strength and break out of your restrainments." I had already started to struggle, and she nodded to the Erasers. Ari sneered and picked up the whip, bringing it down on Max, breaking skin, and I heard her scream. I saw a bunch of bloody feathers and I realized they weren't whipping her back; they were whipping her wings. The other two were kicking her, stepping on her, doing anything to physically hurt her.

"NO! LET HER GO!" I yelled, anger flooding through me as Ari brought down the whip again and again. I pushed and screamed and kicked, doing anything to get the restrainments off. They slowly gave apart, and after around 20 minutes later I was out, charging the Erasers who hurt her. The two without the whip left and came at me, but Ari stayed next to Max, whipping her. The first Eraser came towards me, but I punched him in the stomach, and then his nose, then turned towards the other one. I threw a lot of punches until he was on the ground, then jumped Ari (**sorry guys I suck at fighting scenes**).

He smiled and dropped the bloody whip. I punched him in the face, then blocked his blow by grabbing his hand. I flipped him over me and while he was on the ground kicked him in the stomach, then the head and he was out cold. I stared at him, then ran towards Max (**did I mention this is a realllly big room?**).

"Max?" I asked, pulling the straps off her but not sitting her up. "I'm sorr-"

"Don't. It's not your fault." She said softly. "Sit me up?" I nodded and sat her up, sitting next to her. She had tears in her eyes, and her wings were bleeding. I promised. This is all my fault, I swear, I am going to make them pay.

I clenched my hands into fists, angrily standing up. I walked over to the still cautious Erasers and gave them well blown hits to the head, knocking them out also. I then proceeded to kick the unconscious Ari on his stomach.

"Fang, stop." Max said softly, and I ran towards her.

"I don't know what came over me, I just… he hurt you, and I'm not hurt the slightest bit. They said in my dream, they said they knew my weakness, and they did. I hate it Max, I hate the fact that you're hurt here and I'm not, and I couldn't do anything except pull on metal. It's gonna make me go crazy, seeing you and the others hurt and not being able to do anything about it."

"Well then, I guess you're going to go crazy here." Said Anne, walking in. I stood in a defensive position in front of Max, and she laughed. "Boys!" 5 Erasers came into the room, and I tensed, ready to fight. "Oh, come on _Fang_. Do you want the others to be hurt?" I didn't move, reverting back to my old silent self. "That's what I thought. If you fight back, I promise you will hear their screams from your cage. Take him back, we're not done with her." I clenched my hands into fists and bit my lip, but managed to restrain myself as Max cried out when they grabbed her and took her into a different room.

"Let me take all their punishments, you can test me all you want." I knew I sounded pathetic, but I need to protect my flock, my family. I couldn't stand to see them hurt.

"See that's the thing, everyone will have their own punishment, and it will be something that helps us with tests. See take 0039 for example, her punishment is us forcing her mind powers to make her see what we're doing to you, and as a bonus it seems to be very painful." Ange. She's only 8 years old! "You, you're special. You're punishment is exactly what you said earlier. You are going to see the others be hurt and you're not going to be able to do a thing about it, but literally. We aren't going to physically hurt you at all. Maybe a few punches, but that's it. And you are going to have to sit there and take it. Take him to his cage." The remaining Erasers grabbed me and threw me into my cage.

I stayed silent, shocked. They weren't going to hurt me, they're going to make me go crazy. They're going to use the others to get to me. And there was nothing I could do about it.

**A/N- hey guys! I'm not going to say sorry, I said 3 reviews and I'm not settling for less and know that makes me sound spoiled but you've gotten 4 on one chapter so I think you can get 3. I'm happy about how this chapter turned out, I've been having that idea in my head for such a long time.**

** I should have more time to write now because swim season is over! And so is All West, so I basically have nothing to worry about for messing up my writing schedule until March.**

** I watched Vampire Academy, and to be honest, I didn't really like it. I thought it was pretty lame, but at some parts it was cool. Like, seriously the princess (whose name I forgot already) was in a car crash and picturing her friend dead made her have this power thing and a bond with her? Although it was better than I thought, because I thought it would be about some Vampire school where the main vampire gets her vampire boyfriend stolen by the school slut or something.**

** I'm moving from category to category, aren't I? Question of the chapter: Does anyone have any special valentine planes? Boyfriends, girlfriends, crushes?**

** My Response: I got a bunch of candy from my friends. Sugar is amazing. I love sugar. I think I had to much. Sugar sugar sugar sugar is amazing. I'm going to the mall later.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer- I don't own Maximum Ride (do I have to do this every chapter)**

Iggy's POV (never done Iggy wow this is gonna be weird)

"Calm down." I said, trying to calm the others down. After they took Fang and Max, they all broke down. They had taken Angel a few minutes after, not wanting her to tell us what was happening. Gazzy and Nudge were freaking out.

"I can't!" Gazzy yelled out in frustration, hitting his cage.

"Neither can I! They could be being tortured right now, experimented on, hurt, dead for all we know Iggy, I can't calm down, I'm so scared that you're all going to die, that I'll be all alone! I don't want that to happen!" Nudge said crying. I can't calm them down, I can't even see them!

I heard the door open, and some footsteps. A set of light ones, then 3 sets of some the weighed more. A whitecoat and 3 Erasers. They opened the cage closest to mine. Nudge was in that cage. "Try and fight us and your friends will be dead." Said a male raspy voice. It was an Eraser, because human voices aren't that raspy. I heard Nudge gulp and I knew she was nodding her head. 1 of the Erasers left the room, probably the one carrying Nudge.

They then unlocked the cage on the other side of me, it was Gazzy's. "What are you doing with my sister?" he asked, but he sounded like he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer. I heard a noise that sounded like slapping.

"Keep your mouth shut or I promise you you'll never see her again." Said an Eraser, and I restrained myself from saying anything. I'm assuming they left, and then they stopped at my cage. Even though I knew they would threaten me, I still tried to run past them when the Eraser opened the cage, but I ended up running right into the whitecoat. The Eraser grabbed me and took me to a different room.

_* 5 minutes later *_

I was strapped down to metal chair in who knows what room. "0036," said a male voice, whitecoat. "It's time for us to work on your eyes. Now is the perfect time, because it will hurt, be very painful for you. Also, you can see your friends hurt, instead of hear and feel them." They were giving my sight back? What will happen to my other senses? Even though this is supposed to be a punishment, I can't help but feel a little excited.

Of course, once they started operating, it hurt like hell. I screamed, my legs trashing. They were poking needles _in my eyes_, and it seemed those had an effect on my whole body, because everything felt like it was on fire.

Then I felt them put in another needle, and passed out.

When I awake, I felt the cool metal and assumed I was in my cage. I slowly sat up. "Ig, you up?" Fang asked, his voice coming from the cage next to mine. "What'd they do to you?" and everything that happened came rushing back to me. I squeezed my eyes shut. I can't open them, if it doesn't work I'll be too disappointed. "Ig?"

"Are the others in here?" I asked, so desperately wanting to open my eyes and see for myself.

"Yea Ig, we're all here." Max said sadly. "Why are you squeezing your eyes so tight?"

"They experimented on them again. I don't want to open them and be disappointed." I heard gasps from all the others.

"Iggy?" Angel's soft voice asked. I turned my head in her direction. "I'm pretty sure it worked, will you please try?"

"Please Iggy?" Gazzy asked curiously. "If you don't I might just let one rip…"

"Iggy you're our only hope!" Max said in a fake scared voice, and I knew she was hiding how she really felt from the others, so she was trying to make us laugh.

"O… Okay," I agreed, and opened my eyes. I took it all in, it wasn't very colorful, except when I looked at the others clothes. I quickly shut them, the world was so _big_!

"Ig?" Max asked, and I turned to her. "Did it work?"

"The… it's all so big!" I said. "I feel puny, like it's all going to crush me."

"ZOMG! That's amazing, you got your sight back, you can see now! You can see how beautiful everything is, because once Max and Fang think of an idea, you can see the mountains and the sky and the lakes and the grass-" I realized that she was in my cage and reached towards her mouth, but ended up hitting air instead.

"I need to work on my hand eye coordination." I mumbled as the others laughed. I took another look at them, getting to hang of my eyes. Max had dirty blond hair, Fang had black hair, Nudge has chocolate skin with brown hair, and Angel and Gazzy looked a lot alike. But they all looked a bit sad, and I knew it was because of what had happened.

"Where are all your injuries?" I asked stupidly, but Max turned around, her back facing me and the others, and lifted her shirt. There were whip marks all over her wings, some of her feathers bloody. I noticed Fang clench his fists. I can see in his eyes how much he loves Max.

Nudge went next. It was hard to see hers, they were bruises on her dark skin. "Ran the treadmill, the maze, and then got beat up."

"Same here." Gazzy said. His bruises were easier to see than Nudges because his skin was so much paler.

Angel looked like she was going to burst into tears when she said what they did to her. "They hooked me up to a machine that used my powers against me. I can see what's going on through your eyes if I want to or I can make it like I'm in the room also, so I was planning on not using them today… so that I didn't have to see you hurt, but the machine made me see you all, and feel everything you felt."

Once it was Fang's turn, I turned in his direction and noticed he had his own cage while the rest of us were in one big cage. "Why aren't you with us?" I questioned, and Fang glared at the ground.

"My punishment is… different. You all get physical pain, I get to watch you, and I can't do anything about it! I have to watch and the only thing I can do is what they say, and I'm not even getting hurt! You all get hurt, I go crazy. They want to study my _emotions_." Fang said, spitting out the last word and punching his cage lock over and over, than after a few minutes stopped. "Sorry." He said quietly, and I nodded. He had it hardest. I knew he would do anything to take the damage for all of us.

I didn't know how to reply to that, so I take the time to study the others, get to know how they look and memorize them incase my sight goes away. I was studying Nudge, looking at her head and I saw a black thing in her hair, it seemed to be holding it up. That's probably what she was always asking Max for. "Nudge?" I questioned, breaking the silence. She turned towards me.

"Yeah?"

"C-can I see that thing in your hair?" I asked, and she took it out and gave it to me. I twisted it and stuck it into my pocket. _Ange, can you broadcast this to the whole flock? I need them all to hear it, and I can't say it out load._

_ Okay._ Everyone perked up and looked at Ange, and I knew they all got it.

_I think we're all forgetting one very important thing I can do._

_ Make bombs?_ Max guessed.

_Good, but what else? Fang, how did I get in your locked closet and exchange all the clothes and put hair die in your shampoo?_ I asked, smiling at the memory. Fang was walking around with green hair and rainbow clothes for a week.

_You can pick locks! I remember, that was hilarious, I got some pictures and-_

_ The point is, I can pick the lock on our cages, and we're outa here._

_ But… what if they are watching us? According to their minds, they had made every window four times as strong._

_ They're working on making me stronger to._ Fang said, sounding bitter as I saw Max flinch. _Should be strong enough in a few days._

_In the meantime, we can try and figure out where the cameras are, when the whitecoats and Erasers patrol, and so on… okay... someone's coming!_

I looked up to see an Eraser carrying a tray of food. Not the normal junk they gave us, actual food. He stopped in front of Fang's cage and put the tray in front of Fang. Fang didn't move. "What about them?"

The Eraser smirked. "They're not getting any. It's all for you."

"Are you going to leave so I can eat in peace?" Fang asked, and the Eraser laughed.

"I'm not stupid. Eat. If you don't eat it all, save some for the others, we'll know, and it won't be pretty for them.

Fang didn't do anything. I could tell what he was thinking. He thought that if we weren't eating he didn't wanna eat, because it would make him feel guilty. That's probably why they're not giving us food in the first place. "If you don't eat, I will take pretty girl and kill her, right here right now." I saw anger flash through his eyes, but also fear as he picked up his food and stuffed it all in his mouth. "Swallow." Dang, this guy knew all out tricks. Fang reluctantly swallowed, and the Eraser left, but before he walked by and kicked out cage.

"Okay, let's just all go to sleep. Things will be better in the morning." Max said, and as soon as I put my head down I was fast asleep.

**A/N- Guess who had strep throat? If you guessed me, congrats. So I basically had a 5 day weekend, because Monday was Presidents Day so no school, then I missed school on Tuesday and Wednesday. But I feel better now. What do you think? Should I have given Ig his sight back?**

**Oh, and I am really really really excited for the next chapter :) (take that as a warning... mwahahaha)- shiipitlikeFedEx**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer- I don't own Maximum Ride**

Fang's POV

I stayed up, waiting until they were all asleep. Once they were, I started punching my cage again, as hard as I could. It hurt my fingers, but I didn't care. I will break out of here.

"Fang!" Max whisper yelled. I felt guilty for waking her up, but I continued to punch the cage. "Stop, get some sleep."

"I can't! You don't know what it's like, seeing you all hurt. You may think it's the same for you because you see them hurt, but it's not! I see you all hurt, and I'm not hurt at all, but you, you aren't treated differently from them, you don't feel as guilty as I do. And when you are treated differently, it's because of me! Max, it's only the first night, how long do you think I can last like this, seeing you all being beaten, bruised, starved, and all the other torture methods they have and me not being able to do a thing about it?" Now that the others were asleep, I could tell her how truly scared I was.

"Fang, this is what they want. They want you to break down. Don't give it to them." She pleased with me, but I fought back.

"You don't get it. What if I don't break down, like they want me to? What if they take things to a higher level? What if they… kill you?" I wasn't sure if I said those last two words out loud, because I didn't want to think of a world without Max, let alone be living in one.

"There are too many _what ifs_ in the world. You need sleep. Please Fang, just go to sleep, you will regret it in the morning." Damn logic.

"I'm not tired." I replied stubbornly, but I knew I was.

"Don't argue, I can see your eyes closing right now. Please, sleep." She said, but I was already dozing off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (skip to when Fangles wakes up) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I awoke, something felt off, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I shrugged it off, everything felt off in this hellhole.

I looked around, but there weren't any whitecoats so I sat up. I looked up and saw Max, mumbling and turning in her sleep. "Max. Max, wake up, you're having a bad dream." I whisper yelled, but she didn't seem to hear me.

She turned around completely and landed on Iggy. "Max?" Ig asked, sitting up.

"Wake her up, she's having a bad dream." I whispered, and he nodded, shaking Max lightly.

"Max, it's just a bad dream," Iggy said, but she wouldn't wake up.

"No… don't kill them, you can't kill them I won't let you!" she mumbled, waving her hands frantically, as if defending someone who wasn't there. Ig looked over at me.

"Stop her hands, she'll wake up the others." He nodded and grabbed her hands.

"Max!" Ig said frantically, and she opened her eyes, waking up, tears forming.

"I'm sorry, just a bad dream." She said quietly and leaned onto Iggy, who looked over at me. I nodded, and he put his arms around her.

"It was just a dream Max, don't worry." I said, trying to calm her down. She nodded and took deep breaths, calming herself. Pretty soon she was breathing normally.

"I'm sorry, just… go back to sleep." She apologized, but I thought better of it.

"It's morning. The whitecoats will be here soon, we might as well be ready for it." I said, and she nodded.

"Right." She said, and we enjoyed the few moments of silence we got before the kids woke up.

"Max?" Angel said quietly. "I'm hungry." Max pulled her into a hug.

"I know sweetie, but soon we will be out of here, and they can't starve us for long, they want us alive. You'll get some food soon enough."

"How come Fang gets food?" Gazzy asked, and I clenched my fists. But I forced myself to calm down, he's just a little kid. He's curious.

"Because it's part of their experiments." Max said, and at that moment Angel gasped. "Ange?" Max asked curiously.

"They're coming. Right now, they're almost at the door."

"Everyone pretend to be asleep, now!" Max said, and we all laid down. Ari walked into the room, followed by two other Erasers and a whitecoat. _They want you and Max._ Oh great.

Ari walked over to the others cage. "Oh Maxie…" he said, opening the cage door. The two Erasers were flanking him, probably to catch one of the others if they ran out. Max took a step back, but Ari managed to grab her arm and pull her out of the cage. He held her tight while the whitecoat closed the door. "Should I get her ready?" he asked, smirking. The whitecoat nodded, and Ari took Max out of the room.

The other two Erasers took me out of my cage. I put up more of a fight than Max, but they still got me. They put me into a different cage that was facing a maze. Anne walked in and towards my cage.

"We are giving you 15 minutes to get to the other side of the maze. Your girlfriend is on the other side. If you don't make it to the other side in 15 minutes, we will kill her. And you… you will watch." I perked up at that. What if I can't make it out in time? I remembered what Max said, there are too many what ifs, I can't think like that. "To make it easier for you, you can follow her screams." What? A second later, a scream echoed off the walls, which I recognized as Max's scream.

I immediately charged the cage door, but nothing happened. Anne left the room, and once she did I was let out of my cage. I ran, running left and right, trying to find my way to Max. This maze was different, there weren't Erasers everywhere, no there were the sounds of the others screaming, which made it harder to focus on Max's.

A voice rang through saying I had 5 minutes. I got out my wings and tried to fly up, but was shocked. I used my wings to my advantage another way, by flying through the halls at twice the speed.

I flew down this one hallway that had more light than the others and saw them. Max, being tortured by Ari. He was cutting her skin with a knife.

I flew to them, rage clouding my mind, and when I was about to reach them, I was about two seconds away from exiting the maze, a bell rang and a cage door appeared in front of me, blocking my path. Ari stood up, smirking. "You failed Fang. And you know the price of your failure."

I turned around, but there was a cage door blocking that way too. I was trapped, with no way out unless they let me. I turned back to Ari. "Ready to see her die? Ready to see her bleed, ready to see the life leave her eyes?" he taunted, holding her. There was already blood dripping from her.

"Let her go." I said, my voice surprising me. It sounded calm, but really, I was freaking out. He had the power to kill her, he wanted to kill her, and he was given permission to kill her.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Ari said. "C'mon, let's play a game. How much can I torture Max before she dies?" he pulled down the curtain behind them to show various torture weapons, whips, knives, bats, pots, pans, and guns. "Let's start out easy, shall we?" he said, grabbing a bat.

He went over to Max, holding the bat. He hit her with it in the stomach, and I cried out. "Stop!" I said, but not too loudly. I need my energy. I started to try and bend the cage bars, but they wouldn't budge. He hit her a bunch more times, then looked at me and smiled.

"You think you can't handle it now, look at all the other stuff I can use!" he laughed, hitting her face and giving her a broken, bloody nose, but he kept hitting her with it. He got up and grabbed a pan, hitting her stomach with it. "Well, I can't hit her head with this, then she'll be knocked out, and we won't be able to hear her scream!" he said, hitting her stomach a few more times before switching weapons again.

He grabbed a knife this time, which for some reason seemed to give off a different aura than the others. This one seemed to have smoke coming off it.

He grabbed Max's arm and brought down the blade, cutting swirly patterns into her. She cried out in pain. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yelled desperately. He laughed and cut more swirly patterns in her. "STOP!"

"Why don't we give her a little reminder of whose fault this is before she dies?" he asked, laughing as if he had the most genius idea.

He turned her onto her stomach and moved her wings, getting to her back. He purposely blocked my view and started cutting into her once again, and I heard her screams. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yelled once again, and once Ari seemed satisfied with what he was cutting, he moved out of the way to show me.

I gasped, horrified. (**What do you think he carved? Lol I'm evil…**) he had carved words into her, he carved words into my Max. Well, to be correct, it was the same words over and over. _Fangs fault_. I clenched my fists and pulled on the bars even harder, screaming in rage. How dare he carve words into her?

But the thing that upset me the most is that those words are true. This wouldn't have happened if I had been two seconds faster. "TAKE ME INSTEAD!" I yelled. "DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH ME, BUT LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"Don't you get it? I get to choose what happens here, I'm the one in charge, not you. I can do what I want with her before I kill her, and I will do whatever I want with her, and you won't be able to do anything about it." he taunted, laughing. I glared at him and concentrated on the bars. For a second, I thought I saw them bend.

He started cutting into her again, swirls and lines, with me and Max screaming the whole time. He laughed the whole time. He got up and grabbed the whip, then walked back over to Max. She was surrounded in her own blood. Seeing her like that destroyed me, but it fueled me to go on.

He brought down the whip on her stomach, over and over. Max's screams grew quieter, and I knew I didn't have a lot of time. But I was going to save her, her dying is not an option.

I bent the bars some more, Ari not noticing. He was so engrossed on torturing Max, it was sick, but I used it to my advantage. It was finally big enough for me to just slip through, and that's what I did, quietly grabbing a bat and sneaking up on Ari. I hit him hard on the head, letting out my anger with that one hit, knowing that was all I would get to do since I had to make sure Max was okay. Ari was knocked out cold.

I ran to Max, sitting next to her. I took off my shirt, tearing it into strips. "Okay, stop the bleeding first…" I mumbled to myself. Her wounds looked worse than I thought. She had tear tracks running down her face. I started tying my shirt around her like bandages, sweeping up all the blood.

"Fang…" she said tiredly. "It's not going to work. I'm going to die."

"No, you're not, I'm going to save you. Quit talking nonsense. I'm going to save you, and you are going to feel fine." I said, mostly reassuring myself. She would not die.

"Fang, I am going to die. You're not going to do anything about it, so please don't try." I started to open my mouth but Max stopped me. "Shhh. I want you to stop. I'm dying and I don't want you to save me, because it's not going to work. Please don't waste your efforts."

I sat next to her, but I still tried to stop the bleeding. "Max I have to try and do something, I can't sit here and let you die. I have to try." I could hear her breath getting quieter.

"Fang… tell the others I'll miss them. Tell Angel she'll always be my little girl, tell Gazzy to never fix his problem, tell Nudge I'll miss her rambling, and tell Iggy to never stop being the pyro he is." she said, bursting into tears. "I'm going to miss you all."

"Max, don't leave me, you can't die. How will I tell the others? How can I tell them it's my fault? Please don't die Max, I need you, I love you!" I said, and I realized I was crying also. I grabbed her hand, holding it. She gave it a squeeze.

"Fang, I'm scared, it hurts." She whispered, and I grabbed her and hugged her, forgetting about her injuries. If she was going to die I had to hug her first. "Fang, kiss me one last time?" she asked, and I kissed her lips, but pulled away fast. She had to use whatever oxygen she had left on breathing.

"Fang, I'm going to miss you, I'm going to miss you the most. I don't wanna leave." Her breath was getting slower, but I refused to believe she was dying.

"Max, stop talking please." I said quietly.

"I want these to be my last words. Fang, I-" (**So tenrose of me to end it like that…**) silence. I checked her pulse, she wasn't breathing. Max, my Max, my beautiful Max, was dead.

(**I was gonna end it there but I'm nice and please don't be all like 'oh Max is dead I can't read this anymore bear with me until at least the end of the chapter.**) "NO!" I shouted, crying. I hugged her body, but there was no life left in it. Not a drop. Shaking, I stood up once I heard laughter. Behind me was Ari. "YOU KILLED HER!" I yelled, my voice breaking. I grabbed a knife off the table and hurled it at him. I grabbed a bunch more and charged him.

I dropped the knives, finding it felt better to punch him. "You," I panted "Killed. My. Max." I said, throwing him onto the ground. I threw myself on him, my hands finding his throat. I grabbed it and left my hands there. He would have died if the whitecoats came in and dragged me back into my cage.

Once I got there, I punched the cage and cried. Angel looked at me, then realized what happened and started crying also. "They… killed Max?" she asked, her eyes begging me to say no. The others were watching as I slowly nodded. "This is all your fault! If you had been two seconds faster Max would be here! If you had gotten out of that cage faster she would be here! But because of your slowness she's… dead!" Angel yelled at me. I didn't say anything, stunned. Since when was Angel like this?

"She… she told me to tell you that she would miss you. Angel, she said you'll always be her little girl. Gazzy, she said to never stop being… well, Gazzy. Nudge, she said that she'll miss your rambling, and Ig, she said that you should never stop being the pyro you are. I'm sorry." I said, and the others all started crying.

"You've had more rest then me and are stronger than I am but even I could have done that maze with my adjusting eyes!" Iggy yelled at me.

"Fang gets more rest than us, Fang gets more food than us, Fang doesn't get hurt and we do, I bet you're working with the school and that's the real reason!" Gazzy spat at me, everyone said, shaking their heads in agreement. I can't believe they would turn their backs on me when we needed each other most!

"I hate you." Nudge said, with all seriousness and I knew she was telling the truth, because she wasn't rambling. "I wish we could trade you for Max."

"We don't want you as our leader." Iggy said, and Angel stood up.

"I will be new leader," she said proudly, "and I kick you out of the flock." She said, and I was stunned. I hadn't seen this coming. I would have said something, but I had no idea what to.

"I'm sorry." I whispered finally. "I wish I could give myself up for Max too."

At that moment, the whitecoats came in, dragging my cage out of the room. I didn't try to fight them, there was no point. I had nothing left to live for, Max was dead and the flock hates me. They took me to a different room and quickly injected me with something, and my world went black.

_Time skip to when Fangles wakes up_

I woke up and looked around. I was in my cage, but the others were in there with me, crowding around me. They looked nicer, but I wasn't buying it. I sat up and ignored them as they said to wait as I walked towards the end of the cage and sat down.

"Fang," said a voice I knew all too well. Earlier that same voice had told me to let them die. I turned around and saw Max, standing there perfectly unharmed.

"This isn't real," I said under my breath. "You died."

"Fang, that wasn't real. I am real. The flock is real. That flock wasn't real; would the real flock act like that?" she questioned, and I had to admit, she was right. The flock had never acted like that.

"Tell me something that only Max would know." I said, trying not to let the hopefulness creep into my voice.

"The first time I met you, I gave you the name Fang because you told me they tried to inject snake DNA into you. Once we escaped, we were out and you bought 30 apples. You and Iggy gave each other nicknames, Iggers and Fangles… the time that we pranked Iggy and dyed his hair black and gave him black clothes and I called you emo thing one and emo thing two (**credit for that goes to my favorite fanfic writer **silenceisgolden15** and so does the swirly cutting and the burnt knife you should check out her writing her Maximum Ride stories are amazing**)!" I remembered that, Iggy looked so stupid. But she wasn't done. "You carved out initials into a tree. It was the tallest tree in the forest and I got so mad at you for leaving because I thought the whitecoats got you and you told me what you did and showed me and I kissed you and that's when we told the flock we were dating."

"Max." I said, hugging her. "My Max, I thought you were dead." I said, crying.

"I know, but I'm not, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." She broke the hug and looked me in the eye. "Fang, none of that was real."

**A/N- that was so hard to write I think I started crying but don't worry she's not really dead it'll be explained in the next chapter. And could you all please start reviewing more, I'm only getting like one review now I used to get like three.**

**So this week I had to dissect a chicken leg and it was so gross, but what sucks is that I know that I'm going to have to dissect a frog later this year.**

** You should read all John Green books and all Rainbow Rowell books because they are amazing, like seriously probably my favorite writers other than like Rick Riordan and J.K. Rowling. Like seriously you should read their books. **

** I went to the bookstore and get 11 books, yay! I must go read them all and write the next chapter. **

**Questions of the Chapter- What do you think happened to the Max he saw die? Reminder, the real Max isn't dead.**

**My response- you will find out next week.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer- I'm not James Patterson, so I don't own Maximum Ride. Sorry to disappoint.**

Max's POV

When I woke up, I was greeted by Erasers footsteps, coming towards our room. I quickly woke the others so they wouldn't be kicked good morning. I wasn't able to wake Fang, and he didn't look anywhere close to waking up. The Erasers walked in, followed by Anne. She walked over to Fang's cage first.

"Still asleep, I see. Note, serum 213 works on subject 0035." Anne said, and I realized what they did. They must have given Fang a sleeping potion or something, and it makes sense because he normally is the first to wake up. "Roll them all to room 234." She said, and Ange grabbed my hand as the cage started moving. They rolled us until we got into one of the biggest rooms here, and that's pretty big.

There was a giant TV screen behind them, and they opened Fangs cage and put a helmet on his head. A picture came up on the screen, of me. I was shaking in my sleep, and Fang was whispering my name, and I realized what was happening. This was what Fang was seeing. In his head, he thought he was seeing me having a nightmare, which has happened before.

Anne walked over and explained it in more depth, for the little ones. "We want to know what he would do if Max was dead and the rest of you decided to hate him. We did a scan, it's one of his worst fears, and we are going to see what would happen if that plan went into action. He will think that she died and the rest of you hate him, and you will see it all from his eyes."

"Max, Max wake up!" he whisper yelled, but the Max on the screen just rolled and landed on Iggy.

"Max?" Screen Iggy said, and he looked over at Fang.

"Wake her up, she's having a bad dream." Iggy tried to wake me up, but I wouldn't and stared saying not to kill them. I was having one of those dreams, where the flock was going to die. Fang was going to have to experience that, and he won't be asleep. Once I woke up, I broke down and cried on Iggy's shoulder.

"It's fine, just go to sleep." It was weird to hear my voice and hear me say stuff that never happened.

"Too late now," Fang reasoned with me. "It's morning, the whitecoats will be coming soon, and we might as well be ready for it."

The others woke up soon, asking for food, and Gazzy asked why Fang got food, and I explained how it was part of Fang's punishment. Pretty soon the whitecoats came in and took us away. Then things got more interesting.

They had Fang in a cage, facing a maze. Anna walked into the room, walking towards Fang. "We are giving you 15 minutes to get to the other side of the maze. Your girlfriend is on the other side. If you don't make it to the other side in 15 minutes, we will kill her. And you… you will watch." Fang seemed to perk up at that. "To make it easier for you, you can follow her screams." my screen echoed off the walls, and the others looked at me, making sure it wasn't real. Ange grabbed my hand, and I squeezed it.

"That isn't real, don't be scared by what you see. I'm perfectly fine, nothing that happens in there is real, okay?" I reassured them as Fang hit the air, thinking it was a cage. Once he was out, he ran like a madman, but it was confusing for him, because the others screams filled the air.

A voice rang through saying he had five minutes, and his wings ripped through his shirt as he flew through the halls. I understood now why they had chosen such a big room, Fang was flying left and right. Once I came up onto screen, Fang flapped his wings faster and was almost there, when a bell rang, and a cage door appeared in front of him. Ari was cutting into my skin with a knife, making long cuts.

"You failed Fang. And you know the price of your failure." Ari said, and Fang turned around, but another cage door blocking his way. He was trapped. "Ready to see her die? Ready to see her bleed, ready to see the life leave her eyes?" Ari taunted, and Fang tensed.

"Let her go." Fang said calmly, but there was fear in his eyes.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Ari said. "C'mon, let's play a game. How much can I torture Max before she dies?" he pulled down the curtain that was behind him and there was a bunch if weapons, bats, knives, pots, pans, whips, and guns. "Let's start out easy, shall we?" he said, grabbing a bat. He walked over towards the Max on the screen and hit her in the stomach, and she moaned.

"Stop!" Fang cried out, but I knew he could yell louder. He's saving his energy. He ran towards the front of the cage and started to try and bend the bars. Ari hit screen Max a bunch more times then looked up and smiled.

"You think you can't handle it know, look at all the other stuff I can use!" he said, laughing. He hit her in the face, giving her a broken, bloody nose. He then got up and grabbed a pan, hitting her stomach with it. "Well I can't hit her with this, then she'll be knocked out, and we won't be able to hear her scream!" he hit her stomach a few more times before getting back up and grabbing a knife, but this one seemed different. It had smoke coming off it, and I realized the blade was heated.

Ari grabbed screen Max's arm and brought down the blade, cutting swirly patterns into her, and she screamed in pain. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Fang cried out desperately, and it broke my heart, hearing his voice with so much pain in it and knowing I was the one causing it even if the Max on the screen wasn't me. Ari laughed like a maniac and cut more swirly patterns into her. "STOP!"

"Why don't we give her a little reminder of whose fault this is before she dies?" he sounded like he had the most genius idea ever, which meant more pain for screen Max and more guilt for Fang.

He turned her onto her stomach and moved her wings, wanting to get to her back. He purposely blocked Fang's view, which annoyed me because we can't see what he's doing either. But it didn't mean we couldn't hear her screams. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ari stepped aside, satisfied and we saw what he had cut.

We all gasped, except for Iggy, who sheepishly whispered, "I don't know how to read."

"He wrote 'Fang's fault' all over her back." I said sadly as I heard Fang scream out in rage. I knew how much that upset him, because he was already blaming himself.

"TAKE ME INTEAD! DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH ME, BUT LEAVE HER ALONE!" he cried out, desperate.

"Don't you get it? I get to choose what happens here, I'm the one in charge, not you. I can do what I want with her before I kill her, and I will do whatever I want with her, and you won't be able to do anything about it." he cut into her more, her screams blurring with Fang's screams of protest.

Ari got back up and grabbed the whip, walking back over and bringing it down on her stomach. I noticed her screams were getting quieter, and I also noticed Ari was having so much fun he didn't see Fang slip through the cage bars. As Ari got up to grab a gun, Fang was behind him with a bat. He gave Ari a nice blow to the head and he was out cold. If he wasn't so frantic to help screen Max, he would have noticed that Erasers don't go down that fast.

He ran over to her, taking off his shirt and tearing it into strips. "Okay, stop the bleeding first…" he mumbled to himself, and he started tying his shirt strips around her like bandages, but to us he was tying them around thin air.

"Fang… it's not going to work. I'm going to die." Screen Max said tiredly, and I felt a spike of jealousy, but it was gone quickly and guilt came quickly after. This is exactly what I would have tried to tell him.

"No you're not, I'm going to save you. Quit talking nonsense. I'm going to save you, and you're going to feel fine."

"Fang, I'm going to die. You're not going to do anything about it, so please don't try." Fang started to open his mouth in protest, but screen Max shushed him. "Shhh. I want you to stop. I'm dying and I don't want you to save me, because it's not going to work. Please don't waste your efforts." How do they know exactly what I would say if I were in that position?

He sat next to her, but still tried to stop the bleeding. "Max, I have to try and do something, I can't sit here and let you die. I have to try."

"Fang… tell the others I'll miss them. Tell Angel she'll always be my little girl, tell Gazzy to never fix his problem, tell Nudge I'll miss her rambling, and tell Iggy to never stop being the pyro he is." she said, tears coming down her face faster. "I'm going to miss you all."

"Is that what you'd say if you were actually dying?" Ange whispered, and I nodded.

"Max, don't leave me, you can't die. How will I tell the others? How can I tell them it's my fault? Please don't die Max, I need you, I love you!" he said, tears falling from his eyes. I touched my face and realized I had started crying too. I had made Fang, the emotionless wall, the one who is careful to never show his emotions cry.

I couldn't stand it. "FANG, WAKE UP, IT'S NOT REAL!" I yelled as Iggy tried to calm me down.

"Max, don't waste your breath, he can't hear you, and sooner or later it will be over and you can explain to Fang what happened for real."

I nodded and calmed down, seeing what was going to happen next. "Fang, I'm scared, it hurts." She said, and Fang pulled her into a hug. "Fang, kiss me one last time?" she asked, and Fang gave her a quick kiss before pulling back. He probably didn't want to waste her oxygen.

"Fang, I'm going to miss you, I'm going to miss you the most. I don't wanna leave." Her breath was getting slower and her voice quieter, and Fang seemed to realize that.

"Max, stop talking, please."

"I want these to be my last words. Fang, I-" there was silence, and Fang grabbed her arm and checked her pulse. Screen Max was dead.

"NO!" he shouted, crying. He hugged her body, squeezing it. There was laughter behind him, and Fang slowly stood up, shaking. Behind him was Ari. "YOU KILLED HER!" Fang yelled, grabbing a knife and throwing it at Ari. He grabbed a bunch more and charged Ari.

He dropped the knives and attacked him with his bare hands. "You. Killed. My. Max." Fang said, his voice deadly. He threw Ari on the ground and jumped on top of him, his hands finding Ari's throat. He was choking Ari to death, but more Erasers came in and dragged him back to his cage.

Once he got there, he punched the cage and cried. Screen Ange looked up at him, reading his mind. "They… killed max?" she asked him, and he slowly nodded. "This is all your fault! If you had been two seconds faster Max would be here! If you had gotten out of that cage faster she would be here! But because of _your_ slowness, she's… dead!" she yelled and real Ange winced. I knew she would never say that, and Fang looked shocked.

"She… she told me to tell you that she would miss you. Angel, she said you'll always be her little girl. Gazzy, she said to never stop being… well, Gazzy. Nudge, she said that she'll miss your rambling, and Ig, she said that you should never stop being the pyro you are. I'm sorry." He said, and the screen flock started crying.

"You've had more rest then me and are stronger than I am but even I could have done that maze with my adjusting eyes!" screen Ig yelled. Real Ig winced too.

"Fang gets more rest than us, Fang gets more food than us. Fang doesn't get hurt and we do, I bet you're working with the school and that's the real reason!" Screen Gazzy yelled, and the rest of the screen flock nodded in agreement.

"I hate you. I wish we could trade you for Max." screen Nudge said, but the real Nudge was silently crying.

"We don't want you as out leader." Screen Ig said, and Screen Ange stood up.

"I will be the new leader, and I kick you out of the flock." She said proudly, and Fang still had no idea what to say, but finally he responded, his voice in a whisper.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could give myself up for Max too." And when the whitecoats came and dragged him out, he didn't even try to fight back.

Then a real whitecoat came in and injected him with something, and he was asleep. They took off his helmet and put him in the cage with us, and the Erasers rolled us back.

I ran to Fang and placed his head in my lap. He was still asleep once we got back to the room, but they didn't try to put Fang in a separate cage. There was silence before Ange spoke. "He's going to wake up in a minute. You should set him down and then come to him, because he might freak out more if he wakes up and is in your lap. You should wait for him to wake up and then walk over to him." I nodded and carefully placed his head on the floor, then stood up and walked over to Ig.

Once he woke up, he looked around, but he couldn't see me. "Fang!" all the others said, asking if he was okay and they were sorry, but he wasn't having it. He got up and ignored them as he walked towards the end of the cage and sat down.

I got up and walked over to him. "Fang." I said, and he turned around quickly, blinking a million times as if I might disappear before saying something.

"This isn't real. You died." He said under his breath.

"Fang, that wasn't real. I am real. The flock is real. That flock wasn't real; would the real flock act like that?" I questioned.

"Tell me something only Max would know."

"The first time I met you, I gave you the name Fang because you told me they tried to inject snake DNA into you. Once we escaped, we were out and you bought 30 apples. You and Iggy gave each other nicknames, Iggers and Fangles… the time that we pranked Iggy and dyed his hair black and gave him black clothes and I called you emo thing one and emo thing two (**once again, credit for emo thing one and emo thing two goes to my fave fanfic writer **silenceisgolden15 **so do those the cutting swirls into body with burnt knife idea.**)!" I said desperately. He had to know I was real. I had to think of something more personal. "You carved out initials into a tree. It was the tallest tree in the forest and I got so mad at you for leaving because I thought the whitecoats got you and you told me what you did and showed me and I kissed you and that's when we told the flock we were dating."

He closed the space between us and hugged me. "Max. My Max, I thought you were dead." Fang said, crying.

"I know, but I'm not, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere." I didn't want to break the hug, I wanted to stay like that forever, but I knew I had to, so I stepped back. "Fang, none of that was real."

"What?" he asked quietly.

"Last night, when they insisted you eat all the food, they put something into it. They took one of your worst fears and wanted to know what you would do, so they did. They made you think that was happening. We were there, but starting from the dream I was having to when Ange kicked you out of the flock, none of that actually happened." I started. "They put a helmet on you so we could see what was going on in your head on a screen, and it was like watching a movie."

"So, none of that was real, the whitecoats made me think it was real?" he asked, and Nudge couldn't take it anymore.

"None of that was real, and I'm so so so so so sorry, but I would never do that. I still feel guilty though, but I would never ever ever ever say anything like that, never ever!" she said, running over. "Please please please please forgive me!"

Fang, looking overwhelmed, nodded. A second later, Nudge was on top of him, giving him a giant hug. "Nudge…" he started, but she wouldn't let go, and Ange and Gazzy joined the hug.

"Can't breathe." Fang said, and they quickly let go. Iggy walked over and held out his hand.

"We cool?" he asked. Fang took it and shook it. Guys are so weird.

As I heard Gazzy yawn, I realized how late it actually was. "Okay guys, time to sleep." I said, just as Anne walked in with Ari. Fang stepped in front of me.

"There's no need for that Fang, it's you we want." Ari said, grinning. "Good to know you're afraid of the big bad wolf."

"You've messed with his head enough." I said firmly, trying to get out from behind him, but only getting next to him.

"Max…" he started, looking at me, but I didn't move. "I'll go, it'll be fine."

Anne whispered something into Ari's ear, and if it was possible, his grin got even bigger as he nodded. "You know, I don't know why you're even talking to them right now, this could not be real. That's the thing Fang, you don't even know what's real. How do you know which is which?"

"I know this is real. If I tell you why I know it is, you'll use that information to make the serum more believable." But after knowing him for years, I could tell there was a small seed of doubt in his mind now.

"Enough with the chit chat Ari we're on a schedule." Anne said, and Ari nodded.

"You can either do this the easy way or the hard way." Ari said, cracking his knuckles.

"Easy"

"Hard" Fang and I said at the same time. Fang looked at me, then nodded, but I realized too late. Iggy had been sneaking up behind me, and he grabbed me from behind.

"Damn it Iggy let me go!"

"Don't fight." Fang said to the little ones, then walked out when Ari opened the cage door.

"Sorry Max." Iggy said. Ari roughly grabbed Fang's shoulder and walked him out the room. Once they were no longer visible, Iggy let go of me. He quickly took a step back and held up his hands in surrender. "Look, before you yell at me, hear me out. He just saw you die, and now that he has you back, he doesn't want that to happen again. So how do you think he would be acting sitting in here knowing that he has every chance of losing you again?"

"Since when did you get so serious?" I asked playfully. He took this as a sign that he was forgiven and smiled.

"Since I was unblind." He said, laughing. I will never understand this kid. I heard Angel nod, and decided it was time for them to sleep.

"Okay, bed everyone." I said.

"What about Fang?" Gazzy asked.

"Fang would want you to get some sleep." I said as the little ones put their heads down and dozed off.

"He would want you to sleep to Max. Don't tell me you weren't planning on waiting for him, I'll wait and wake you up when he comes." Iggy said, and I opened my mouth to protest, but it turned into a yawn. I nodded and put my head down, quickly falling asleep.

**A/N- So… I had a snow day on Monday and spent all PE class talking to a guy who likes John Green books so yea. Sadly, my friend is moving to Portland and I will probably never see him again, and I can't go to Lebanon this summer to see my family because they are bordering Syria and my parents don't want us to get trapped in the airport or something. Also, I finished watching Merlin and like cried for a long time.**

** Question of the Chapter- What do you think should happen next?**

** My Response- I'll come up with something by next Friday.**

** So I'm gonna update this now so my friend doesn't kill me… bye!**


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